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by Haitorei
Summary: A long banished Jinchuuriki is forced to come to terms with his past. "Before you can become Tsuchikage, you must prove your allegiance to Iwa. Assassinate this man." NaruSaku
1. Chapter 1: The Calm Before a Storm

**Author's Notes**

So for some reason, I'm very drawn to the idea of how the Iwa ninja would treat Naruto, and what would have happened had he been raised there. This storyline has been floating around in my mind for some time.

Anyways, this story was inspired by the following quotation:

"A house is made of walls and beams; a home is built with love and dreams."

**Chapter 1: The Calm Before a Storm**

Naruto looked into the calm canyon, Iwagakure's natural defense. The last Great War had torn apart this strong nation, and Naruto could sympathize. The Yondaime was unparalleled and relentless, and the stories they told of Konoha at its peak seemed unreal, unlike anything Naruto had experienced during his time there. Although miserable, he had managed to make friends and grow into an individual comfortable with himself… and what he contained.

But in Iwa? He _flourished_. They loved him for all the things Konoha hated – he had directly contributed to the fall of their greatest enemy. Tsuchigakure erected a monument celebrating his greatness once the kage found out. He could hardly walk three steps through the streets without receiving a hug, a nod of approval and an elder holding his hand to thank him.

Personally, he wasn't sure how to think of the fourth. The man who had taken away everything from him had also, indirectly, been responsible for granting him a whole new set of abilities, his personality and strength, and most importantly, his home in Tsuchigakure. He was more than mature enough to understand the two sides of any war – the heroes on one side, defending the village, are also the enemies on the other. Having lived in both villages, no one had a better understanding of that than Naruto.

A small cough interrupted his thought process.

"Uzumaki-san." An elder woman kindly smiled. For the first time Naruto took a look around the room. Everything seemed to slow down as he processed the information he had just been given.

"The council has deemed it so. Think of this as a mere formality." Another elder walked in, but he was slightly younger than the woman. "After all, this man, he means nothing to you anymore, correct?"

There was a brief moment of tension in the room. Naruto could sense the thoughts that were flying through their heads. _Would he actually be a traitor? Who is this man to him? It's been years since he'd last been there – why not just accept it already? How could you throw away such a great honor?_

The table had an old, faded picture of a man he once knew. The image was pinned down by a kunai that pierced the table. In a fluid motion, Naruto pulled the kunai out and tore the picture in two, leaving a large gash across the man's faded face. "Of course. I will bring you his head."

The stress in the room evaporated. Before the picture could float down to the floor, Naruto had already left to pack his belongings. It was time to prove his mettle.

. . .

_The icy, torrential downpour made him numb to the pain. It didn't matter that there was a gaping hole in his chest. It didn't matter that a monstrous hand, morphed by an evil seal, had punctured his lung. It didn't matter that the demonic limb belonged to his best friend. It didn't matter that this brother was leaving Konoha, never to return again._

_In that moment, Uzumaki Naruto was wholly immersed in his own thoughts. They say when one is laying on his deathbed, an entire life flashes – a life full of promises, sorrows and ultimately, the people treasured most. For Naruto, none of those occurred. As he fell into the flooded river, he could only feel regret._

_Hokage? It was all a waste of time for a village that didn't mean anything. _

_Konoha? What did the civilians mean to him anyway. _

_Team 7? It was all but gone. _

_Old man Hokage? He was dead._

_Kakashi-sensei? Off doing missions. Without Sasuke, their team would be split. He was a decent sensei. A better ninja. But what was it all worth…_

_Sakura-chan? She didn't care for him. Her eyes were set on the man in front him. The man whose dark wings were spreading to even murkier future._

_Iruka-sensei? The faintest hint of a smile took hold of his countenance. One man, who, despite everything that happened, eternally cared for him. Risked his life for him. Saw him as a human being. That was a tougher question to answer, but Naruto had to do what was necessary._

_It was time to say goodbye to Konohagakure no Soto. It was time to take a step forward and stop lingering in a painful past. He briefly wondered if he'd even be alive the next day? His worries were put to rest by the tingling feeling of the mighty Kyuubi no Yoko getting to work. With that, he let the familiar comfort of unconsciousness take hold._

_The next day Naruto woke up to find himself in the hospital. Quietly, Naruto slipped into his orange outfit that day and never looked back. Leaving behind his past had been difficult – near impossible, at first. He roamed through various villages, forever unsure of where he was going, but consistently getting in trouble. He thought of stopping by to visit Inari and Tsunami in the old bridge builder, but it didn't seem necessary to bother them. Besides, he wouldn't really be leaving his past if he decided to revisit his first A rank mission. No, it was best to just… keep moving._

. . .

It had been seven long, grueling years of work – but it had paid off. The people of Iwa were a proud, resilient group, confident in their ability to always survive regardless of the toughest terrains. Iwagakure itself was in a barren desert canyon where relatively little grew. Most, if not all, of the village was underground. Their jutsus specialized in defensive measures, and their lifestyles reflected their mentality of caution.

Naruto was careful enough not to dig his roots too deep. He never really decorated his apartment, never truly embraced any particular location as his 'home' per se. Sure, he had friends, and the people were incredibly welcoming. But he refused to be so attached as to let another catastrophe shake his world. In a ninja's line of work, one simply could not afford that.

Naruto ascended the ranks fairly quickly. Within two years of his arrival he was a Jounin. Another two and he became an elite assassin. And now – three years after that? He was on his way to becoming one of three nominees for Tsuchikage, the highest honor possible.

He knew the other two – Konosuke Matsushita, a fairly older ninja with an impeccable grasp of genjutsu, and Tatsuro Tanaka. Tatsuro had been part of the Black Ops Sarsen program, a clandestine operations department that recruits from an early age – akin to Konoha's ROOT division of ANBU. Rumored to be the man who had killed more than anyone in the village, Naruto seemed wary of direct confrontation with the man. He could feel the oncoming storm. This was merely round 1. They had each been given a rather dangerous mission, and it wasn't so much about getting it done as not being discovered. Iwa had a strong affiliation for breaking international treaties, violating status of forces agreements, and simply escalating situations. What they valued most in a leader was someone who wasn't afraid to get their hands a little dirty and, ultimately, had the brains to avoid political catastrophes when they inevitably took place.

In many ways the village seemed directly opposite of Konoha's attitude. Well, perhaps not all of Konoha. Danzo no doubt shared a _very_ similar philosophy to most of the council that ran Iwagakure. The Sandaime Hokage was by far the exception to Konoha's actions, not the norm. Most villages, Naruto had discovered through his missions, behaved the same: they acted in their own self-interest. Regardless of the circumstances, when push came to shove, international law took a back seat. That was why his group existed: Tomb was a relatively novel program (begun by the Yondaime Tsuchikage) that cleaned up messes, which was essentially code for almost exclusively took care of assassinations.

Naruto steadied his unique, bloodshot katana. He'd bring it along just in case. His uniform was fairly distinctive, but given the inconspicuous nature of most of his missions, he doubted anyone would recognize it. The tight, onyx vest matched the dark obsidian pants – flexible enough to move, but not baggy so as to get caught. His vest had a dark gray etching of a swirl. As the last Uzumaki, he wanted to consciously remind himself to always care only for himself.

The katana sheath in the back was sealed so that only his chakra could access any of his weapons. There were myriad of seals across his clothes – a summoning scroll, neatly sealed away, a teleportation seal so that if he were killed in battle, his body would be taken back to the Tsuchi shinobi, and several traps for anyone who attacked him while he was sleeping.

He looked back across the dark brown canyon. To an untrained eye, there would be no signs of life. Some abandoned, partially burnt houses, several rock structures that were toppled, and a desert that showed no mercy to any parched soul. But for the past seven years, this had been his home. He knew all the secret entrances, all the ruses and snares, and most of all, he knew the people. He looked into the distance, far beyond the desert where animals roamed the prairies and mountains towered above the land.

If all went well, he'd be the next kage within two years. He thought about his current mission. The man he had to kill. It was no time for dawdling. This time, Naruto couldn't afford to falter. This time, the rasengan would win.

"Hatake Kakashi, you're a dead man."

A golden flash was seen streaking towards Fire Country.


	2. Chapter 2: Beware the Maelstroms

**Author's Notes**

Some people were wondering why I didn't just make Naruto go ahead and have to kill Sasuke – I decided early on that since he's out of the village, it would make little sense. Also, since Naruto is a little darker in this one, he's sort of given up on Sasuke (temporarily). I needed Naruto back in Konoha for some time to turn back to his old self and find his humanity, so Kakashi was the easiest mechanism for that.

**Chapter Two: Beware the Maelstroms**

_Naruto chose his words carefully. "I'm a ninja." Okay, maybe not so carefully. But he tried?_

_Emiko giggled. "Oh Naruto-kun, your humor is as surprising as ever."_

_The Tomb had an archaic system for assassins. Because psychological distress was often common, they permitted a single individual to be the 'key.' That one person, if trustworthy enough, could keep all of the secrets of a shinobi. Psychological trauma is the number one reason for casualties at home; a ninja that loses it is deadweight for the village, and this was the insurance. Having at least one person with whom someone could speak to about everything: all the missions, the secrecy, and most importantly, the shinobi's opinion on things. Tomb assassins spent years perfecting the art of following orders, ignoring one's own convictions, and being absolutely ruthless. The key was the only mechanism to let those aspects out._

"_I-I'm not kidding." A fourteen-year-old Naruto blinked at the beautiful woman before him._

_She breathed softly. "You're being serious?"_

"_I've joined the Tomb training program, and as a part of that, my cover is to be working at this ramen shop."_

_The shopkeeper couldn't believe it. "Naruto, this is… unreal." The clueless, clumsy, idiotic man before her was… a _ninja_? "I-I see… Do you want to talk about it?"_

_The young boy nodded. They took the rest of the day off, and Naruto explained the whole process to her. She had to take an oath not to tell anyone unless Naruto was in mortal danger, and they placed a small seal on her leg. It wouldn't monitor her, wouldn't control her in any way. The only function was to alert the Tsuchikage in case a key told someone about any of the black ops programs. After all, shinobi wouldn't even use the keys if the seals were malignant. The key was usually the closest person a ninja has, so Iwa ninjas made sure the seal wouldn't do anything to cause the key pain._

That was the first and last time Naruto had a key. He looked at the leaf that fell in his hand. Emiko was killed on the route back from Kiri, acquiring more supplies for the ramen shop. On this very road, coincidentally. Crushing the leaf, he smeared it across the ground with his foot. It had been a long time since he last thought about her…

…

"Listen up, runts. I'm getting too old for this crap. The Chuunin Exam is going to be starting in one month. That means it's two months until the final event, when lords from all over the world will be coming to watch the genin duke it out."

"Ibiki, we know. We've _been_ through the Chuunin Exams." A tired blonde sighed. "We know you've been paranoid ever since the last one, but I promise Orochimaru won't invade us this time."

There were couple chuckles that went around the room.

Ibiki's glare only worsened. "You think this is a joke!" The room became dead silent. "That's it! Drills for everyone. Every day for a month until the exams start. GOT IT?" And he stormed out of the room.

"Ino, why couldn't you just keep your mouth quiet? Some of us want to be Jounin in a couple months." A cherry blossom punched her friend lightly. "They're only held once every three years, and considering neither of us passed last time, we need to _train_. How on earth are we going to do that with this new routine we're stuck with?"

The sentiment around the room seemed to echo Sakura's thoughts. "Shut up, forehead. You were laughing with the rest of us."

Sakura groaned as she packed her bags.

"Hey where are you going? I thought we were going to go train?"

"I know, I just can't today – I have to go get my medical license from Hokage-sama and pass the graduation test."

Ino bit her lip. "Oh, all right. How long do you think that will take?"

"Ino, just go train without me! It could take hours; I don't really know. This is really important though, so I'm going to have to bunk training today."

Ino nodded. "Yeah, yeah. Oh – and good luck!"

'_Ino sure is acting really weird today. I wonder what's going on…_' Sakura left for the hospital, leaving a nervous Ino behind.

…

"Sakura, it's good you came." Tsunade said hurriedly. "Sit down, sit down."

"I wouldn't be late for my test – I'm not Kakashi-sensei." She joked.

"Hey now, I was punctual this time!" Kakashi entered the room, and Jiraiya followed close behind him.

"What happened to the test?" Sakura's perplexing stare wasn't lost on the granddaughter of the Shodaime.

"Here." Tsunade gave her a card that had a smiling Sakura on the front. "It's your medical license. No test. I waived it. You're one of the best medical ninjas I've taught."

Sakura's relief quickly changed to worry. There weren't many reasons why Jiraya-sama, Kakashi-sensei, and she, a Chuunin, would all be called simultaneously. In fact, there were only two: her former teammates. "Is this about Sasuke or Naruto…" she murmured just loud enough for her mentor to hear.

"Naruto." Tsunade filled in. "Jiraiya's spies have been tracking all over the world – given the threat of Akatsuki around, we had to verify his statuses periodically, or at least make sure that the organization still hadn't found him."

Sakura tried to rattle her memory. She had received the explanation the day Sasuke and Naruto _both_ left the village, and given her state, she wasn't absorbing much that day. "Akatsuki… that's the group that wants his…" she pointed to her general naval area.

"The nine-tails, yes." Tsunade replied. "Jiraiya's spies have verified that, to date, the group has not managed to seize Naruto. Which leaves one of two possibilities. Either he's _very_ well hidden – so well that even our spies haven't even been able to find him – or," Tsunade seemed to pause here. "Or he's dead." A small silence seemed to choke the life out of the room. Everyone awaited Sakura's reaction, and based on the glances, Sakura assumed they had arrived at this conclusion long before today's conversation. This was the real reason they had called her: a courtesy because she and Naruto had been one of the few people who had been close, for Naruto at least.

"Isn't there _any_ chance he really is just hiding really well? What if he pretended to be a civilian? Or he just moved really far away! Or – or he – " Sakura's eyes were begging for an explanation, but the adults in the room merely looked down, as if purposefully avoiding her gaze. "Or he defeated them! What if he's been training?" Okay, that last one seemed a little too ridiculous, even for her. But she was desperate.

"Girl, hiding from this group is no game. It's near impossible. There aren't many places on the planet you can go. They've captured six of the Jinchuurikis already, for all corners of the world. The safest place he could be is with us." Jiraiya finally responded. "And even if he could hide from them, my spy network is quite accomplished. I have spies in nearly every country. Hell, outside of Iwa – which, let's be honest, they'd kill a Konoha ninja without a beat – there isn't really _any_ place I couldn't find you. _Someone_ would have said _something_. He's really caught between a rock and a hard place; the only way he could be protected is if someone carefully watched him and took care of him. That could only happened in a hidden village full of powerful shinobis. But there are very few shinobi villages that would accept him after getting to know him, given his… complicated past."

"Why would nations care if he had the Kyuubi in him? The nine-tails didn't even hurt other villages! It seems like they'd actually appreciate it – don't tons of other villages hate us? Wouldn't they take him in?" Sakura couldn't accept it. There was no way Naruto could be dead.

"It's not just the Kyuubi." Tsunade began.

"Tsunade-hime…" Jiraya interrupted.

"It's okay, Jiraiya. There's no point in hiding it any longer, given Naruto's… likely state."

Sakura, on the other hand, was completely confused. Something about Naruto's past that was _more_ complicated than the nine-tails fox? Something worse than having the most terrifying demon in memory in your belly?

"Sakura, Naruto was the product of a… complicated relationship. And, naturally, this is classified. I have decided you may be privy to this knowledge because you were his team mate, and he loved you. More than you could realize." Tsunade spoke gently and softly. The words had their impact. Sakura wasn't accustomed to her sensei being so caring. "Naruto was the son of the Yondaime."

The words rang in her head for almost a minute. '_The YONDAIME! The Yondaime? _The _Yondaime…_' Her mind tried emphasizing the phrase in every distinct way possible, but no matter how she said it, it just didn't compute. She just couldn't process the knowledge she had received.

"You can imagine why we didn't even give him the same last name as his father. The Yondaime killed many people during the war, and numerous villages would love to get their hands on his son. When you last saw Naruto, he was barely thirteen, on the precipice of hitting puberty. His facial structure would have changed, he would have grown… If he were alive today, the resemblance would be uncanny. There would be few who wouldn't eventually realize the connection." Tsunade finished.

Sakura barely heard a word – or if she did, she didn't register anything. '_Stupid Naruto! You're just a dead-last! You're nothing compared to Sasuke-kun. Naruto-baka stop trying to show off! Chya – Sasuke-kun is soo cool!_' Memories flashed through her mind in rapid sequences, and an overwhelming sense of guilt built up inside of her. '_All those times… all those times…_' She looked down; her medical license was getting wet. Why was it wet? She could worry about it later. "So… what are the odds that Naruto is dead?"

Silence.

"Over 90%" Kakashi replied.

Sakura lost control – she couldn't hold it in any longer. As she openly bawled, her legs gave way and she quickly met the ground. "Dead, dead, dead…" Was all she could repeat, over and over.

Through a small crack in the door, an ANBU mask observed the seen, having heard everything. '_RELEASE!_' As Ino's body came to life once more, she made sure the ANBU was knocked out. He would never have known what had happened. She quickly escaped through a window and headed for the training grounds. '_Holy shit…_' Was all she could think. As she remembered witnessing Naruto beat Neji, she thought about Sakura – rooting for Naruto during the exams. '_Poor Sakura…_'

…

"So, now that Sakura is gone, what was the real reason you called us here?" Kakashi turned and faced not the Godaime, but Jiraya.

Jiraiya chuckled. "Sharp as ever, Kakashi. Everything I told Sakura is true, and I believe it. There is another problem, however, that worries me."

Tsunade's eyes narrowed. She didn't like where this was going.

"Four members of Akatsuki have shown up dead – just within the last three years. Someone is assassinating them. The technique is impeccable..." He laid out their pictures on the table. "Kisame. Deidara. Sasori. Hidan. S class criminals. All taken out _during a mission_. And most recently, an attempt was made on Orochimaru's life. I was initially curious as to why this individual – or group of individuals – would target our favorite Sannin… My spies discovered that he was originally a part of Akatsuki as well."

"_Orochimaru?_" Whatever Tsunade had been expecting, it wasn't this. "I really souldn't be surprised, given the kind of scum he is. So some mysterious force is slowly picking Akatsuki apart? I don't understand, why is this a _problem_? Surprising, yes. Intriguing, sure. But problematic?"

"Akatsuki has gotten exceedingly close to acquiring all of the bijuu. There are three remaining: Naruto, Killer Bee of Kumogakure, and Roushi, of Iwagakure. Whoever is orchestrating this scheme not only knows of Akatsuki and their goals, but is _extremely_ capable. We're talking about someone capable of squashing characters like Uchiha Itachi. We have no idea who these people are or what they want. My spies are terrified to get close. Not to mention they can't. Akatsuki hasn't revealed anything as to who's behind this stuff."

Kakashi stepped in. "In other words, you're worried that… this group isn't doing this to stop Akatsuki to save the world… They're doing it because Akatsuki is their competition, and now that Akatsuki has nearly accomplished the goal and done all the work for them, they want to finish the job?"

Jiraiya nodded, and the three of them sat in silence for a long time. The possibility was frightening, but it didn't seem all that probable. Certainly, it was _possible_ that there was a larger struggle going on between them and another group, but there were also three other explanations.

1) Akatsuki was struggling in an internal coup – the weakest members were getting weeded out because, now that the job was mostly done, they didn't want to split the prize anymore. Who would want to split the nine bijuu amongst different people when a single ninja could retain all that power?

2) Someone, or some group, was in fact taking out these ninjas because they were ideologically opposed to Akatsuki and their goals.

3) A different group, Akatsuki's competition, wanted the prize instead, and they were strong enough to take out nearly half of the organization.

4) Various villages had separately and unknowingly killed the ninjas – after all, all of them were famous missing nins in the bingo book with high rewards. It wouldn't be unusual for one or two to go in such a manner.

"Of the various options, one and two seem the most favorable. The problem of course, is that if there really existed some group who was not evil, then why wouldn't they seek shinobi assistance?" Tsunade contemplated.

"Well, they could be undercover. It's not like they could go to a different village to seek assistance, I mean it's not like all of us have a great mutual understanding and a cooperative framework set up exactly." Kakashi mused.

"To be honest, anything but number three is fine – but number four is skeptical – if there really was a major assassination, the bingo book would have to be altered. It would be all over the shinobi news. The fact that no one knows means someone else is at play here." Jiraiya mulled.

"The worst part of it is that most of our mid-level to high-skill ninjas will be taken up for the Jounin exams." Tsunade admitted. "We're more vulnerable than usual."

…

"_Naruto-kun, this is Roushi. He, like you, is also a Jinchuuriki." The Tsuchikage smiled._

_Naruto stared incredulously at the man. He was… well, older. He held the fire-monkey bijuu. With the unique capabilities of his bijuu, Roushi managed to perfect his own elemental style: lava manipulation. Naruto held out a single, skeptical hand. "Hey. I'm Uzumaki Naruto."_

"_Roushi." The man simply introduced himself. "I will be your tutor. Thank you, Tsuchikage-sama." The Tsuchikage left, cheerful as ever. "So, you're from the Leaf."_

"_I was born there." Naruto corrected._

"_Why come here?" Roushi began. "Why here, when every other village in the world would love to get their hands on you? The strongest of all bijuus?"_

"_This village accepts me. It doesn't kill me. That's more than I can say for any other place."_

_Roushi chuckled. "The people of Iwa are strong. You share in their determination, the will to survive. So tell me, Naruto." Naruto didn't like the way he said his name. It was ripe with provocation and sneering arrogance. "Why do you fight? To protect those who are precious to you?"_

_Naruto thought about Iruka-sensei, Sakura-chan. He couldn't afford to. That aspect of his past was long gone. "Most of those people are dead. Or at least, they'll never see me again. I fight to preserve myself."_

_Roushi stroked his short beard for a while, his eyes twinkling. "Perhaps one day…" He smiled, and that was the moment he accepted Naruto as his pupil._

_Days crawled into weeks, which turned into months, which sped into two full years. Over that time they had grown inseparably close, but the older Jinchuuriki never clarified his statements. Rather, he would only add more 'Perhaps one day…'s. Despite their rocky start, the man taught Naruto everything he wanted and more. About elemental manipulation, about fighting, and about living. The man's love for Iwagakure was unlike anything Naruto had seen. He understood the pain of being a Jinchuuriki, and managed to overcome it, retaining friends, family, and his capacity to love. Slowly but surely, the man was making a rather large crack at Naruto's determination to remain cold and isolated._

_Over the months, the prankster Naruto would come out, in real form. They'd run through the village together as civilians would watch and cheer. Through all the muk, mud, and grime that Iwa soil was known for, the older man kept smiling and pushing forward, for Naruto's sake. It was only after a year of training that Naruto understood why he agreed to tutor Naruto: the man was dying. Nothing to do with the spiritual fire-monkey that lay sealed inside him; it was a genital defect._

_As the conditions worsened, he'd often just watch Naruto rather than spar with him. They had developed a routine by that point: breakfast, prank of the day, lunch, training, dinner, training, sleep. No matter how bad his health got, Roushi never wavered on the prank of the day. Until that fateful day when, he, too, simply disappeared._

"_Naruto." He said suddenly one night over dinner. "I think you're getting to that day," he began, referring to the fateful 'one day' that he kept alluding to. "You need to find out why it is you fight. Self-preservation, while necessary, is not a sufficient condition to drive a person. Deep inside, despite all your denials, lies a compassionate heart." Naruto frowned. He didn't like where this was going. It sounded too final. The man pulled him into a hug. "It has been a pleasure teaching you." Yup, definitely too absolute._

_The next morning, the man was gone. It was another two years before Naruto found out what happened to his sensei, but by that time, Naruto had only reinforced the notion that love, like most other feelings, was a peripheral distraction that served no real purpose. Any attachment he managed to form seemed useless. Peace was an intrinsic good, regardless of emotional considerations. And peace was formed through strength. Which made his goal rather simple, regardless of what his old Sensei may have said._

_When he finally became privy to his sensei's last mission, Naruto immediately adopted it himself: Roushi decided to use his last strength to try and put an end to Akatsuki; Kisame captured him, extracted the bijuu, and left him to die. Naruto read the Tsuchikage's report over and over until it was irrevocably imprinted in his brain. Roushi's body was torn in five pieces – each limb separated from the torso and the head removed from the body. The blood was drained out of him, leaving behind a deflated sack of skin and bones, dried to a crisp. That day, he spent hours huddled over a waste bin vomiting repeatedly._

_It was a moment unlike any other. Unable to grasp at reality, unable to feel his own body, Naruto aimlessly walked around the village. He was overwhelmed with the magnitude of the situation. Though he had always known that this group existed, that someday he may have to face them, it was constantly a distant one. Even in his brief encounter with Itachi and Kisame, Jiraiya soon wafted him away and saved the day._

_But now? There was a tangible impact on his life. And these bastards would pay. He would take each of their bodies and recreate what they had done to his sensei. With precision._

…

A shadowy figure appeared at the door.

"You…"

"Me." The voice calmly replied. A crimson katana gleamed in the dark, but the figure didn't bother to remove it from its sheath.

"Come to finish the job?" The tension in the man's arm loosened. He had to leave this body. He needed a quick escape into a second one. He looked around. Yes… yes, Kabuto would do well.

Kabuto suddenly toppled over, dead. "You weren't thinking of switching bodies, now, were you?"

"I suppose it's silly to ask why you're here, especially at a point when it's patently obvious."

"Hn…" The shadowy figure made a lightning fast motion, blurred by the darkness, and the room was filled with an emerald glow.

_My chakra… I can't… _"This jutsu… how did you come by it?"

The figure didn't speak, merely waiting as the jutsu took its effect. It was a kinjutsu developed by Iwa nins during the first great shinobi war – an ancient one long deemed useless by more advanced, modern techniques. But it had one crucial advantage: it was a completely anonymous jutsu. No chakra signatures, no peripheral imprints, nothing. The cost? No access to one's chakra coils for a full month. Pricy, yes, but Orochimaru was a necessary victim, and he couldn't take any chances. He watched as the paralysis took its toll. The body collapsed, barely able to move. The paralysis slowly spread – from the extremities first, slowly spreading in, until even the lungs would eventually cease all function.

_I have to use that jutsu._ Orochimaru slammed his hands into the ground, activating a summoning seal. As the Manda appeared, Orochimaru's body began turning increasingly snake-like.

'_He's fusing with the Manda? Spiritual beings might be immune… This may pose a problem._' Without chakra, there weren't too many options left. Naruto wasn't sure how much chakra the Manda had, but it must be a fair amount. Orochimaru, however, couldn't use any of his own either.

'_I have to use that seal…_' Unlocking the seal on his left shoulder was a pain, particularly after a kinjutsu, but there was little choice. It activated a reverse summoning seal, transporting them to Naruto's mindscape, in front of the Kyuubi's gates. It was a sealing-based genjutsu that required a tremendous amount of the Kyuubi's chakra pre-sealed. Using such a large portion, Naruto found he could replicate its evil chakra's paralyzing effects, crushing the enemy's will.

"**Do you know what foxes eat, Orochimaru?**" Came the Kyuubi's dark voice. "**Foxes.**" The floodgates opened, and the Kyuubi's chakra stormed out, devouring the Manda. The ploy worked: Orochimaru separated from its body instantly, leaving a molten skin of the Manda on the floor. It had already retreated.

Naruto turned his eyes to the writhing man on the floor. His kinjutsu would have robbed the man of all his chakra by now. He stepped closer – enough to see the whites of the snake ninja's eyes, smirking all the while.

"W-why…" the man rasped out. It would be the last word the snake Sannin would ever speak.

Stepping into the light, the blone-haired shinobi openly laughed, knowing full well the dying man below him could still hear. Death was irreversible at this point – he had three, four minutes tops. No medical care would change a thing. He bent over, close to Orochimaru's ears. After all, the man had but a minute of life left. Speaking barely above a whisper, Naruto hissed into the dying snake's ear, "I like to see the weak die."

Unsheathing his katana, Naruto adeptly made five cuts, severing Orochimaru's limbs and head from the torso. The blood began pooling out. Using the crimson weapon, Naruto smeared his victim's blood over his chest, activating yet another seal. Orochimaru's blood began draining out of his body, quickly flowing into Naruto's own. It was an ancient seal Naruto acquired with great difficulty – the ability to store an opponent's blood. Blood was very useful for a variety of crucial tasks: jutsu replication, seal activation, chakra identification. One could never predict when it would be useful. As he drained the blood, Naruto spat on the deflated body of his most recent kill.

'_Green saliva._' The after effects of the blood seal. He would be absolutely vulnerable for the next three days. The seal operated by redirecting the body's own life-force to maintaining and storing the enemy's blood and chakra; thus, any damage that occurred over that seventy-two hour window would be permanent – from the smallest of scars to even losing a limb, no one could undo the damage. Medical jutsus were based on working in coordination with the body's natural chakra to rehabilitate shinobi, but with a temporary nullification of chakra, it would be impossible for Naruto to recover.

Looking at his Leaf forehead protector, he chuckled at the irony fate had dealt him. A large gash going through the middle of the leaf symbol, not unlike the ones missing ninjas purposefully did to symbolize their status. Of course, Naruto had been a missing nin for nearly seven years at this point, so perhaps it didn't matter all that much.

…

A month's worth of chakra was a long price to pay, but that's what seals were for. And frankly, it wasn't his first time using this technique. Naruto had slaved over the scrolls contained in the libraries of Tsuchigakure, and in accordance with their alliance, Kumogakure's scrolls as well. Kinjutsu and sealing techniques came naturally to him. Kumogakure was particularly useful in learning to control the Jinchuuriki – with Killer Bee's rather eccentric guidance, the Kyuubi's chakra was successfully under his control.

Before entering the Leaf, however, he had two missions: access to the hidden scrolls of Sunagakure to hone wind manipulation; understand how to completely eliminate the Kyuubi, but retain its chakra. Indeed, this was yet another reason he began hunting down Akatsuki (asides from the fact that they were actively hunting him). Honestly, their pursuit of him didn't bother him too much. The fights had been dangerous, no doubt, but it was useful to sharpen his skills. Nothing like a murder attempt to really get the adrenaline pumping.

That brought him back to his current predicament. As an undercover Leaf shinobi, it wouldn't do well if he only had his broken forehead protector with him. He was considering posing as a missing nin instead. It would certainly free him to act more… naturally. The other major dilemma was the ordering of his priorities. He decided the hunt for Akatsuki could wait; Suna and advanced elemental manipulation was more important.

'_I wonder if Gaara still remembers me… This should be fun._'

…

Naruto slowly walked along the road. Travelling without any chakra was such a pain. The road to Suna would be another three weeks journey. He stared at his clothes. Pretending to be a civilian may be the most miserable task in existence. No using trees, no chakra… travelling at the pace of a snail. Everything about it screamed misery.

Suddenly, a kunai whizzed past him. Naruto had seen it coming from a ways, so he angled it so as to make it appear as if it had just barely missed him. '_Goddamit. What now._'

"Halt!"

"Is there a problem, Shinobi-san?" Naruto looked at the man in front of him. His hair, unruly. A dog next to him that was far larger than an average dog. But the paint marks uniquely distinguished him. '_Inuzaku Kiba? Heh… The odds of meeting you here._'

"What village are you from?"

Naruto debated the odds of telling him he was from Iwa. No, the chances that Kiba would angrily interrogate him or even try to attack him for his affiliations were too high. He didn't know many other villages well enough to pull it off. "Inuzaka-san, I am insulted. I come from Konoha, of course."

Whatever he was expecting, it certainly wasn't that. "A-ah, I see. I'll need to see proof of identification."

"You see, shinobi-san, that's particularly problematic because, well, some bandits stole everything I own. I'm a simple merchant doing my usual route. After all, the best ports are in Kiri. Is there any other way you could possibly verify my identity?"

Kiba thought carefully. "I need your help for something first. Have you seen any assassins come by here? They'd be clad in all black, usually carrying some form of katana?"

'_So he saw the shadow clones…_' "Yes! Yes – they had a rare, red sort of katana. They asked me if I wouldn't mind parting with my marine log – it has all the information regarding incoming ships and outgoing merchandise. I, I really shouldn't even have it, but I managed to bribe a portsman for it. I needed a particular package of rare spices…" Naruto scratched his head, ashamed. It was a standard tactic: admit to a small crime, showing that you're being honest, to earn trust. That way, the mark leaves you alone, scot free to go.

Kiba mulled over this. "I could have you arrested for illegal business practices, you know."

Naruto mentally smiled. He had bought it. Now for the cherry on top. He got on his knees and openly started weeping. "Please, please you can't! I-I had to! My daughter is getting married in two months, and we can't afford the dowry. There was no other way, please! I swear I will never again. In fact, I won't even go to Kiri to pick it up – I'll just go straight back to Konoha. Please!"

"All right, all right. Get up. You'll be fine. Just think of this as your last warning."

Naruto wiped his tears and nodded. "Thank you, shinobi-san."

As he continued walking, he cursed himself for activating his shadow-clone seal. He had placed various seals around his clothing for emergencies such as this, but now it had all been for waste. He needed the clones to find out intelligence about Konoha, and whatever they did they certainly alerted some trouble. He had to dissipate them. He frowned as the intelligence rushed into his head. His clones had been too careless. Activating shadow clones through a seal wasn't nearly as effective as a fresh copy using his own chakra. '_Ah well…_'

Kiba paused, before returning to his team. '_That face… Where do I know that face from…_'

…

One month had passed by surprisingly quickly for Nara Shikamaru. The special Jounin sighed as he looked at the clouds. There just wasn't any time anymore. '_Troublesome…_' No, no time at all – especially now that the preliminaries of the Jounin Exams were about to begin. Unlike the Chuunin Exams, the Jounin test was intravillage; they couldn't risk foreign participation. Even the Chuunin Exams, despite the low level capabilities that most genins had, tended to get out of hand rapidly. One could only imagine the logistical nightmare for the ANBU team. Not to mention, after the last invasion of the Sound/Sand, security had been revamped and escalated.

And the worst part of it all? He was a proctor and architect of the entire exam. Yup, all three stages. The Godaime trusted in his… what did she call it? His "analytical abilities and tactical intuitions." Combine that with some of her masochistic influence, and the product was a truly gruesome outcome. He stared at the designs for the three rungs. Day after tomorrow was the big day.

A single sigh permeated the field. '_Troublesome indeed…_'

…

Why on earth they had low-level Chuunin guard the giant gates of Konoha, Daisuke would never know. Why _he_ had to be the one to do it during the night shift – that he knew very well. His supervisor hated him. Daisuke cringed at every noise the forest made; every crack of a branch, howl from a wolf sent shivers up his spine. '_Sometimes, Kami-sama just doesn't have any pity…_'

_CRACK!_

The Chuunin blinked. Twice. _That_ was not in his imagination… was it? Silence resumed in the night, and he returned to his duties of guarding the gate.

_CRACK!_

"O-Okay, whoever this is. This isn't funny."

Silence greeted him once more. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. Could this be genjutsu? "Kai!" Nothing around him seemed to change, until –

_CRACK!_

He couldn't take it anymore. "Okay – seriously! Who the hell is there?" If he was going to die, it was going to be with a fight. He wasn't going to go out weak. No. Definitely not. He ran into the forest thrusting a large fireball in front of him to illuminate the area. In the decades that followed, Daisuke would never again mention this incident – not to anyone. He would silently decide that the shinobi life was not for him, and, like his parents had suggested, he would start a simple merchant business. Yes, a safe and boring merchant business.

A cloaked figure stood by a tree stump, hovering over a dead body. _CRACK!_ An inconceivably quick movement separated the head from the spinal column and the rest of the body. Blood gushed out, but the figure used a jutsu to make the blood rise out of the body and… was he eating the blood! Daisuke couldn't tell, but the other four limbs were already severed. What remained was a hollow, blood-less body… a sack of skin and bones.

"W-W-Who a-a-re you?" He gathered every scrap of courage his body contained.

The figure steadily approached him. Quietly, almost floating above the ground, it glided towards him until it was but a few meters away. It slowly reached for its pockets – Daisuke couldn't take that chance. He threw a shuriken, aiming straight for its head, but the shuriken seemed to miss. '_What? My accuracy has been near perfect…_'

Finally, the figure paused, irked by the shuriken. He couldn't take anymore chances. Daisuke got on his knees and began praying. "Please, please! Have mercy!" He opened his eyes when he felt a thud next to him. The figure had been reaching for its passport. He looked up. A blonde haired individual with blazing azure eyes stared at him with such an intensity that he could barely breathe. Looking at the passport, he quickly verified its legitimacy.

Name: Naruto Uzumaki.

Rank: Genin

Village of Origin: Konohagakure no Soto

Warrants: None

Daisuke sighed. He was a leaf ninja. '_Genin? Doesn't seem like any Genin could possibly_' –

As if reading his thoughts, Naruto whispered, "You will never speak of this day again, understood."

Daisuke only nodded dumbly.

"You will resign from the taskforce in one week."

Again, a nod.

Naruto thought about it… Better not to take any chances. As the blackness consumed Daisuke, Naruto stared at the seal he had placed on him. It was faint – almost indistinguishable from a birthmark. For the next week, the man would be but a hollow body, merely following Naruto's every instruction. After that, it would erase itself, leaving but a memory charm that would block the entire week from recollection and instead replace it with an entirely fabricated story. After four months it would be so seamless, none but a Fuinjutsu master could even notice anything awry in his mind.

Quickly, Naruto took Daisuke's passport. He only needed the original copy to forge a new one. A new name… that's what he needed. Naruto remembered his first kill. '_Itoku Sujin, I owe you one._' A nameless prisoner Naruto had been ordered to murder. He didn't know anything about the man – what he did to earn his sentence, if he had a family, or where he was from. Silently, and forcefully, Naruto slit his throat with just his claw-like nails. That was the first of many gurgling screams he'd hear.

…

"_Kazekage-sama." Naruto said teasingly._

_Gaara's lips twitched (smiling was still a new thing, and he wasn't quite comfortable with it yet – baby steps, baby steps). "Naruto-san. You need not use such terms when speaking to me."_

_Naruto softened, smiling. "How have you been, Gaara?"_

"_I have been well. The village has done well, and all is fine. You have taken too long to respond to me."_

"_Yes, Tsuchi has me running around like a headless chicken."_

"_I was unaware your allegiance had altered."_

_Naruto paused. Gaara was safe to trust, probably. And even if he wasn't, he couldn't tell anyone that truly mattered. "Yes, after the Sasuke incident, I had no choice. I couldn't bear facing Konoha once more. Sometimes a new beginning is just what one needs."_

_Gaara nodded, as if understanding. Maybe he did; Naruto couldn't tell, but it didn't matter. Gaara was one of his few, genuine friends. Even though they hadn't spoken in years, it was as if nothing changed. "Indeed. What brings you to Suna?"_

"_Well…" Naruto smiled. "With any luck, I will soon be named Tsuchikage."_

_Gaara's eyes widened. "That is indeed good news. We will, of course, alter our treaty allegiances if this materializes."_

_Naruto nodded. "As will we. But that isn't why I've come here today. I was hoping you could help me out with elemental manipulation… The awkward thing is I can't use any chakra for about another week – it's kind of a long story. I was hoping to peruse through your scrolls, hopefully, just to get the theory down."_

"_Of course, in exchange for one thing." The kage paused._

"_You can have two conditions, because I need to ask another favor of you: do not inform Konoha that I was hear. They can't know."_

"_I see… two favors, then. Firstly, in four months, Temari is getting married. I would like you to be there, in person."_

"_Of course, congratulations are in order. Who is she getting married to?"_

_Gaara smirked. He wasn't sure if Naruto understood the magnitude of the request he was asking. "Nara Shikamaru." He let his words sink for a bit._

"_I see. Very well, I will be there." This was going to be very tricky. Avoiding all the leaf ninjas that would be arriving… it would mean he'd have to wait until after that point to assassinate Kakashi, if necessary. "And the second?"_

_Gaara dismissed his guards. After they were completely alone, he continued. "I want to know what you know regarding Akatsuki and their members." His whispers weren't lost on Naruto._

_As a ninja who learned to read 'underneath the underneath,' Naruto knew Gaara wasn't asking for no reason. He had a pointed purpose: he was suspicious that Naruto was behind this. "Yes, your instincts are correct." He quietly verified. "I've been killing them off, slowly."_

"_So the reason you cannot use chakra for another week…"_

"_It's the result of a kinjutsu I used to eliminate Orochimaru, the Snake Sannin." A silence overtook the room as Gaara processed his words, but unlike many conversations, it felt more natural. It wasn't an alienating, choking silence, but a peaceful one. "I heard they took the demon out of you. How have you been?"_

"_I sleep better now. It is… refreshing." Gaara chose his words carefully. "While their attack on Suna was most unwelcome, I cannot help but feel these outcomes are for the best. The Jinchuuriki is a poison, and I'd rather rely on my own strength."_

_Naruto smiled, nodding. He knew what that felt like. He had grown sick of relying on the Kyuubi's chakra with less and less control of his own actions. That was the original reason he sought out Killer Bee. "I'm glad you're taking this so well."_

"_Why are you doing this?"_

_Naruto sighed. He owed it to Gaara to at least be honest with him, considering he was going to look at their scrolls. "I'm eliminating those who threaten my life. It's as simple as that. This group, what they're doing to us Jinchuurikis… it's unconscionable. It took me years to make any friends at all, and after 19 years, Gaara, I have two friends. You, and Iruka-sensei."_

"_There will always be complications in life, and there may always be people who will try to kill you… Do they all deserve a death sentence?"_

"_No." Naruto curtly answered. "But self-defense is always justified, regardless of the circumstance. If death can be avoided, that would be ideal, but sometimes it can become unavoidable."_

"_Just make sure you are not consumed by your revenge."_

_Naruto smiled. He wasn't sure if he was faking it – part of his double life became super natural to him after a while. "All of these individuals are S ranked criminals, responsible for veritable genocides. In the worst case scenario, my revenge does something helpful for the world. In the best case, my life has some modicum of normalcy after all this." Naruto got up. "And to answer your question, I'm not consumed… at least, not yet. I would never actively hurt one of my friends – either of them." Naruto grinned._

…

"Orochimaru and Konan are dead, too. What's interesting is that their deaths are exactly one month apart. This was the same for Kisame and Hidan's deaths – also exactly one-month difference. I'd say our killer has a pattern, here." Jiraiya informed.

"It doesn't make any sense as to why one month is the crucial timeframe that he needs to wait. I've ruled out all poisons – most ingredients take two weeks to grow, some as long as two full years. There's nothing that fits the exact one month peiod." Tsunade sighed.

They hadn't made any progress as to whether this coincidental disappearance of Akatsuki members was helpful or not.

"Pull up the surveillance field for the last two months. I want to go over everyone with a shinobi-level chakra."

Surveillance fields were fairly common among most hidden villages – an overwhelmingly large chakra field that covered the whole village. It wasn't very useful for offensive purposes, considering the sheer strength of maintaining it alone took thirty villages in the intelligence division. Rather, it was used to detect everyone who entered and exited. And, since it reacted mainly to chakra, any shinobi would stand out due to higher than usual chakra levels.

The only problem with Tsunade's strategy? Naruto's chakra was completely burnt out when he entered Konoha thanks to his kinjutsu. Tsunade slammed her fist on the table. "If only I could get access to any of the dead bodies… I'd be able to find out exactly what happened…"

…

Naruto settled into his apartment. He was surprised at how nice it was; after living in the worst possible situation for years at Konoha during his childhood, he almost forgot the village had nice places to live. It had everything he could have asked for – two bedroom, two bath, beautiful penthouse view, wonderful living room with a moonlight roof that let him see the night sky to boot.

And the best part? It was in the red-light district – _deep_ in the red-light district. This would be the base from which Naruto would operate. Naruto unrolled some of his greater Fuinjutsu scrolls for references. By the time he was done with this place, it would be his own sealed fortress.

'_First the door…_' This was definitely going to be a long couple nights. Chakra seals as a first level of security was an all-right initial step to ensure a certain modicum of security. Chakra signatures were particularly difficult to forge, but it was_ possible_ with a magnification method. Medical ninjas used them in particularly tense situations when the body had the nasty habit of rejecting foreign chakra sources, so by taking a part of the patients' DNA, they could amplify the natural chakra present in it by injecting their own chakra and letting that DNA grow, thereby having a veritable 'artificial' source of the patient's chakra. This was a rather lengthy process, but someone truly determined to access his secrets could do it within a day.

There were two solutions to this: one, he would make the requisite chakra fairly large. It wasn't particularly a problem for him, considering his chakra reserves. The second, real clincher, would be another, nearly identical chakra seal right next to the first, only this would take the Kyuubi's chakra. If only the first were activated absent the second, well, the intruder would be in for a nasty surprise. '_Couple of my favorite jutsus ought to do the trick._' He smiled at how devious he was being – almost like the old prankster himself was back.

Of course, based on this circuitry of seals he was building, the chakra would have to be replenished every weak or so. Security seals weren't meant to be used on a regular basis. Chakra seals, for example, were meant to be a one-time ordeal, usually when an heir was inheriting something. As a security system, it would take a fair share of energy, but when you have a monstrous chakra coil system, combined with an actual monster's chakra, certain things naturally came to you.

A particularly handy seal he learned at Tsuchi was the sensor. Since most ninjas at Iwagakure had earth affinity, they were trained to sense enemies approaching. Naruto manged to alter the jutsu into a seal, that not only tracked movement within a certain confine, but also triggered other seals depending on how close on got. This way, if someone _did_ somehow manage to get inside, he'd know exactly where they went – down to the exact steps.

The next major project he had to work on was his 'safe.' Long-term assassination missions like this one were frequently unsuccessful, so all Tsuchi ninjas kept a small safebox, just in case of any… complications. That way, the next person wouldn't have to start from scratch and could use the intel gathered by the prior assignee. Naruto looked at his 'safe'. It was Tsunade's necklace. He had placed a single seal on it, such that if he were to die in combat, it would disappear to his drop site, the place shinobi usually kept their safe. Naruto learned the hard way, however, that a drop site wasn't particularly useful because usually, the reason the mission was unsuccessful was one's cover was blown.

So, he learned to keep it on his own body – so he wouldn't have to worry about going back to his apartment to retrieve anything. Everything he needed would be on his own person.

As he scanned his apartment for plausible drop site locations, he finally settled on a perfect location. The refrigerator. He smiled as his own obsession of food guided his spywork. Most spies kept drop site locations dangerously personal – the bed, sacred locations, etc. The trick was to pick something as close to random as possible.

Next, the emergency seal. In case anything went wrong, he would incinerate everything contained within his apartment. The entire chakra network would evaporate, the seals would self-destruct, and most importantly the drop site would be transported back to the Tsuchikage.

Naruto smiled. He loved the feeling of setting up a new base.

…

The rookie 9 and Gai's team were gathered for the first time in a long time. The reason? Shikamaru's 'engagement celebration.' When asked at the prospect of having an actual bachelor's party, Shikamaru just shivered. "No, Temari would kill me," came the standard response.

Although the actual announcement had been months ago, Team 8 had been out on a mission for some time, and it didn't seem right to have the party without them.

"Congratulations, you old dog!" Chouji smiled.

"Hey, now!" came the objection from Kiba.

All present rolled their eyes. "We didn't mean it like _that_, Kiba-kun."

"You guys will never believe me on this, but for some reason, on this mission – just randomly, in the middle of Kirigakure, I could have sworn I saw Naruto – bahahaha." Kiba chuckled.

Sakura nearly choked. "Who was he?"

"Well, you know the assassins we were tailing all of a sudden? They apparently robbed this poor guy blind – well, he was a merchant that wasn't exactly being completely business kosher, if you know what I mean. But that's Kami-sama's karma, if you ask me."

Shikamaru, not missing a beat, asked "Why was it strange to see a merchant in Kiri? Given their ports it seems almost natural."

Kiba nodded after swallowing his drink. "Yah, but apparently he told me he was from Konoha. Seemed crazy that a civilian would come all the way there unaccompanied by anyone. He was just, you know, walking here, all by himself. That path has bandits all over. You'd think an experienced merchant would know that."

"But he had no chakra signature or anything?" Ino bumped into the conversation now.

"Nope! I tried sensing any semblance of chakra, but nothing. So I just let him go."

Sakura fake-laughed. "You sure you weren't just dreaming?"

Ino darkly stared at her, giving her the '_Why are you fake laughing?_' look. Sakura returned with the '_Later, not here._'

"Well, anyways, the Chuunin Exams start tomorrow, and some of us get to be the lucky proctors that participate in the madness." Ino yawned. "Sakura and I need to get some rest. Good night! And congrats, Shika!"

As they waved their good byes, the two best friends exited together, prepared to finally discuss what had happened.

"I know you eavesdropped on the conversation." Sakura flatly began.

"Well damn, Sakura. You cut right to the chase." But upon looking at her best friend's face, her demeanor changed entirely. She hugged Sakura tightly. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." She didn't mean for her intrusion upon the conversation, and Sakura knew it. "And I'm sorry for eavesdropping, too," she hastily added.

Konoha was beautiful at night. The full moon above them lit the way easily, and Ino could see the tears on her friend's face. "Maybe he's alive… Maybe that merchant that Kiba saw – " Sakura began, but stopped herself when Ino tightly squeezed her hand. A little too tight.

"Don't. Don't go down that path, Sakura. You'll only torture yourself."

They stopped. They had reached the young Haruno's apartment. Sakura nodded. "Y-yeah, you're probably right. Anyways, we have to be in tip-top shape tomorrow, or Ibiki-san will murder us."

"Let me sleep with you tonight." Ino offered.

Sakura smirked. "So you can eat some more of my dango? Screw you, Ino-pig."

Ino feigned anger. "Stupid forehead! Try and do a favor and this is how you're treated." But she couldn't help smiling. Insults were good. Insults meant Sakura was getting over it.

…

Shikamaru sighed. If his mother or (shudder) Temari were to see him here, they'd beat him into a pulp. Recently, he'd developed a rather nasty habit of… enjoying the _fruits_ of the forbidden red light district. By the end of today, the first phase of the Chuunin Exam would be over. He sighed, grumpily at that. With that, Sakura and Ino would be free for his latest project: the Jounin Exams. '_What a mess…_' Why he'd been chosen to proctor, he had no idea. Taking a sip of sake, he tried to focus on the strippers in front of him. They were okay, he guessed. There was this redhead, very provocative. Sexy, even. Then there was this hot blonde that had long, beautiful locks.

Shikamaru shifted so as to avoid his… reaction. His focus shifted to the drink in front of him. He groggily blinked. Sleepy? He frowned. Uh oh. The blonde slowly walked towards him. '_Drugged… just my luck._' He tried to lift his hands, but his body was unresponsive. '_Crap…_' was the last thought before the sweet embrace of unconsciousness welcomed him.

…

Shit! The Chuunin Exams – how could he have forgotten? He could have easily just forged a Suna passport and entered village. It would have been virtually unnoticeable given the chaos of the whole situation. And if his guess was right, then Kakashi would either be participating in some way or serving as an ANBU guard.

He'd need to gather more intelligence regarding the ANBU schematics; no doubt they would have changed everything after _his_ Chuunin Exam. Orochimaru was rather brilliant to utilize the chaos of the exam to plot the invasion. Naruto glanced over the drugged Jounin. Nara Shikamaru.

He smiled at his own luck – honestly, he wasn't expecting to find too much intel in the red light district, but he figured he'd have to sell his cover; to do that, he needed to be seen in the red light district. But walking around, only to find a Jounin, was too good to pass up. The truth serum would be wearing off in a couple minutes, so Naruto poured Shikamaru another glass and forced the man to drink it. He had a couple more crucial questions to ask. Every man had a weakness. That's what Roushi always said. The key was to find and exploit it. Who knew Shikamaru shared the same weakness as Jiraiya?

Hurriedly, Naruto secured his surroundings. Atop the Hokage's monument, Naruto hid behind the giant heads of the former Hokages. He was just far enough behind that he couldn't be seen from below, but close enough to the edge so that if an emergency did in fact come up, he could simply jump off and escape. He was a fan of the worst situation planning; it saved his butt on numerous occasions. He stared at the recently drugged Jounin.

Truth serums were tricky little buggers. A subconscious that was actively fighting could take malleable questions and answer them improperly on purpose. Drugging the person even more so as to repress the subconscious would be even more useless, as it would just dull the person into a dazed stupor, incapable of rendering any intelligible answer. Instead, Naruto found through personal experience that direct, yes-no questions were the best precisely because they couldn't be misinterpreted.

"Are you responsible for planning the Jounin Exams?"

"Yes."

"Is there a physical copy of the plans – on any form of paper or other writable surface?"

"No."

"Did you memorize the plans?"

"Yes."

"With whom did you plan the exams?"

"Tsunade-sama."

"Anyone else?"

"No."

"Is Kakashi involved in any way in the Chuunin Exams?"

"He is a proctor."

"Anything else?"

The drugged man shook his head.

"What stage of the exam is he proctoring?"

"The preliminaries."

"Why?"

"To weed out those who pass the Forest of Death but don't deserve to."

Naruto smiled. The guy was cheeky. To evade the answers even when completely drugged; he had to hand it to him. "Why was Kakashi chosen, and why that stage?"

"I don't know."

"Draw out the plans for the exam." Naruto commanded. Shikamaru's use was rapidly declining, as he got most of the information he needed to know. The real question, then, became what to do with him. Since he was proctoring the exam, it would attract too much attention if he simply went missing, or turned up dead. Normally, he'd risk it, but given his future as Tsuchikage, he couldn't afford to harm relations with Konoha. He smiled. That is, until he invaded the village and crushed them.

That left two options. Place a memory seal on him and force him to forget the abduction entirely, in addition to implanting false memories, like he did for the Chuunin at the gates. But he couldn't risk that for an experienced Jounin – not one that visited Tsunade on a regular basis. No, she'd discover the seal well enough, and even if in the best case she couldn't remove it, she'd know something was up. In the worst case, Shikamaru would regain all his memories, and the gig would be up.

Or, he could keep Shikamaru in his apartment, neutralized all the while, and he would find a way to impersonate the Nara. The other variation of this could be some form of mind-control. Given the options, impersonation seemed to be the easiest. This one didn't seem particularly easy, either. Naruto, smart as he was, was not a genius like Shikamaru. Mimicking all the mannerisms would be extremely difficult. Mind control jutsus required extensive preparation, a vast amount of chakra, and more importantly, decreased in efficacy with distance. There wouldn't really be a way to control him properly from far away. He briefly considered using genjutsu, but his proficiency with genjutsu was miserable, and given his friendship with Hinata or Neji, that would arouse suspicions.

It seemed the best option would be neutralizing the man while Naruto impersonated him. The major disadvantage was that it shortened the timeline for his mission dramatically. He'd have to assassinate Kakashi within a matter of days, and escape Konoha. Once he was back in Iwa, he'd be safe.

A kunai whizzed past Naruto's face, cutting a single blonde hair.

"Uzumaki-san."

Naruto blinked. Twice. "Konosuke? It appears your target is in Konoha as well?" Naruto questioned.

"Indeed. None other than the infamous Hatake Kakashi. Is that your target?"

Naruto hesitated, and then nodded. "Yes. A strategist – Nara Shikamaru." Naruto's mind, meanwhile, was racing. Why would the council give the two of them the same kill order? Was he supposed to kill the other competitors as well?

"Finish him." The man ordered. "Or you'll lose." He smiled. "After all," he placed his hand on a storage scroll, and Kakashi's body popped out. "I've already got mine."

Naruto's eyes went wide. He had to kill Konosuke now. There was no other day. Naruto lunged, when suddenly Konosuke turned into a pool of water. '_Genjutsu. Crap. He's already trapped me. It must have been when he threw the kunai to distract me._' Konosuke was a phenomenal genjutsu expert who perfected not only using other senses to trigger genjutsu as well. His ploy was rather ingenious. Using genjutsu, rather than a truth serum or persuasion, he used Naruto's reaction to understand the truth.

"So, the rumors are true. You _are_ out to kill my target."

"What! Konosuke, the council gave you and I the same target."

He paused. "Then explain to me why my father warned me that you were out to stop my ascension to Tsuchikage."

"How could he know that when we haven't spoken even once? I'm telling you this is a set-up."

Naruto's fellow Iwa-nin reached for his shuriken. "Even so, Uzumaki-san, I cannot return to Iwagakure empty-handed."

…

Sakura sighed, exhausted. The Chuunin Exam was always a pain – but this one was particularly so. Even for no one participating, the exam meant a huge amount of missions, bustling, and foreigners. Because many Jounins and ANBU were required to stand guard for the duration of the exam, everyone who didn't participate had to pick up the slack in terms of missions. More importantly, Konoha was extremely vulnerable during this time, so anyone with even the slightest modicum of authority was extremely on edge.

But this one in particular drove her to near collapse because of her part: a proctor. Ibiki's annoying exercises, stupid training programs, endless rehearsals, and "motivational" speeches had all paid off, as the first stage went off without a hitch. And in two days, the Jounin Exams were beginning. She was going to rest for the next two days, making sure she'd be in top shape.

These days, between thoughts of how close Team 7 used to be, how rapidly her life was changing, and the upcoming exams, Sakura barely had any time for herself. She chuckled as she saw the Hokage's monument. She could still imagine it freshly painted by a ridiculous, orange-clad ninja. She'd go up there often enough – to glance at the stars, get a different perspective on the village, or just enjoy the view.

…

A shuriken cut the Jounin's throat, right before a golden flash stuck its blood-red katana into an Iwa nin's chest. Digging further, Naruto cleanly gouged out the man's heart, ensuring a kill. '_I'm sorry, Konosuke-san._' Naruto frowned; he had underestimated Konosuke. Naruto wanted to end it quickly, but he forgot to factor in the hostage. He needed Shikamaru's intel, but Konosuke, given his genjutsu prowess, did not.

Carefully, he unsheathed his blade. The man's dying gargles came out, ragged and belabored. He didn't have time to worry about his former friend. Former classmate. Former ally. No, he had a ninja to take care of. Given the blood loss, he only had a couple minutes before Shikamaru would be dead.

Ashamed, he shook away the thought from his mind. He didn't really have an option to feel guilty right now. Naruto had to accelerate the bleeding – make sure the Nara died, so as to frame Konosuke. That would be his in; yes, he'd frame the Iwa nin to earn trust. It was a perfect plan. Given the general absurdity of most shinobi battles, even an observant medical ninja would ignore some details. He wouldn't be caught.

"Hey! Who are - " She stopped.

He almost jumped. A pink haired woman approached him, wearing a medical ninja's clothing. The resemblance, even after seven years, was unmistakable. The situation couldn't have been worse. _She'd_ recognize it if he tried to kill the man.

"N-Naruto? Naruto is that you?"

"Sakura-chan…" he hesitated. Fuck it all. "Help me heal him. He's been attacked."


	3. Chapter 3: Unleash the Rage

**Author's Notes**

Phew! That last one was kinda long (~18 pages - and this one is ~16!). I'm thinking I like the longer chapters though – please let me know if you prefer the shorter ones. I'll try the long-ish ones for a couple more times. The main disadvantages being longer times between updates (since it takes much longer to write and edit especially), but I find it allows for a more complete "chapter" as opposed to small snippets and scenes. I suppose I write the kinds of stories I prefer to read.

**Chapter 3: Unleash the Rage**

Naruto watched with a grim satisfaction. Evidently, seven years really _was_ a long time. Gone were the traces of the fan girl along with any mock anger. Only a supreme urgency regarding the situation at hand. Sakura didn't bother wasting any time or even acknowledging Naruto's presence. For the first ten minutes, there was a singular focus on Shikamaru's condition.

"That Iwa nin slashed his throat with a kunai." Naruto stated, but it wasn't necessary. He figured a medical ninja like herself would be more than capable of figuring it out herself.

Finally, after the rough patchwork was complete, she faced Naruto. He saw the whirl of emotions in her eyes and braced himself for an almost nostalgic beating. But instead, all he heard was "Help me carry him to the hospital."

Not that he missed her. Certainly not. It was better this way. He had moved on, and evidently so had she. _How uncharacteristically professional_, he thought dryly. Well and good for the both of them. Naruto picked up the man's body and stood up. The situation was just getting worse and worse. The hospital was right next to the Hokage's tower, and given Sakura, she wouldn't let him escape easily. If he tried to leave now, it would become infinitely more difficult for him to get close to Kakashi.

There was another thing that bothered him. If he and Konosuke were given the same target, what are the odds that Tatsuro did, too? Fairly high, he assumed. That bugger really bothered him. Something was off-putting about his character, his past, and his connections to the current Tsuchikage and Tomb operations directors. It may very well have been a plan to get the three contenders to eliminate each other, with only the strongest emerging for the title. If that were the case, it would only be a matter of time before Naruto would have to kill another Iwa nin.

Unless Konosuke was in on the entire operation. Naruto pushed the pit in his stomach down. This whole thing stank to high hell. Someone was making a power grab. And he was hundreds of kilometers away from... _from home_.

The two had been silent for the entire run. When the hospital became visible once more, Sakura sighed audibly. The tension was relieved: Shikamaru was still alive, albeit barely, and they were now in easy access to advance equipment. In all likelihood, he'd be perfectly fine after a couple weeks of rest. And, it was for these exact reasons that Naruto became nervous. He now had an expiration date: whenever the Jounin woke up, his cover would be ruined. The deep wounds would probably put him in a deep coma, couple weeks long.

Stopping in front of the door, he handed the body to three doctors. Turning around, he met six pairs of eyes. This was certainly not what he expected. The Godaime Hokage, Jiraiya, Ino Yamanaka, Chouji Akamichi, Sakura Haruno, and his target: Hatake Kakashi. His right arm tensed as he thought about for half a second. Two hiraishin jutsus, that's all it took: one to kill Hatake, and another to escape. His fingers wrapped around the special, seal-marked kunai as he prepared to seize his opportunity.

"Naruto?"

He froze. How could he forget that voice? Tsunade. He needed to initiate a cover story immediately. He had three weeks before anyone could deny it, and by that time he'd be long gone. He smiled widely. "Baa-chan."

It was as if some benevolent kami had set the world right. Her Naruto was back. How she'd dreamt of those words for weeks – almost the point of hearing it sometimes. _Yearned_ for that stupid grin again. And to see him wearing her necklace still after all this time... It was too good to be true. Her body moved on its own. She _had_ planned for some faux brawl that ended with some name calling and perhaps some close to the line insults, but there would be time for that later. She needed this. And she knew he needed this.

She wrapped him in a tight hug quite unbefitting of a Hokage.

"Naruto." It was the barest of whispers. Several seconds later, she felt the hug return with full force.

She broke the hug finally, wiping the barest of tears from her eyes. Her eyes eagerly took in his image. "Seven years. _Seven_ years. You're, what, twenty now?"

"Nineteen." Naruto replied quietly. "Birthday is in a couple months." He smiled, embarrassed.

It all happened quite suddenly. Tsunade's fist was concentrated with a large amount of chakra. She was crouching, aiming her fist at the ground. For Naruto, it seemed like slow motion – his mind, racing ahead of his body, knew what was coming. He had an eighth of a second before it reached him. In a fluid motion, Naruto quickly moved three paces to the left, dodging the groundbreaking attack that left a deep ravine in the ground.

'_His speed… like the Fourth._' It seemed to be the general thought the crowd shared. If Tsunade was surprised, she certainly didn't let it show. Instead, she appeared to be quite content with continuing her rampage. "No contact. No messages. _No_ idea where you were for _seven_ years. And now, without warning, you just _show up_?" Another chakra-powered punch. Naruto used a Shunshin jutsuto avoid it. He couldn't afford to display many of his abilities now, but Tsunade seemed unrelenting. A single punch and it would all be over. "So?" She paused. "You're just going to stand there?"

Naruto replied with cheek. "You're grown even older and slower, Baa-chan." He grinned.

Another chakra filled punch, but as soon as he dodged, she brought down her foot, anticipating where he'd run. He had no other choice; a golden flash appeared, and Naruto vanished, reappearing right behind the Hokage. To her credit, she chuckled. "So I have. It's good to have you back, you little _brat_. Come – let's go to my office; no doubt we have much to discuss."

It was a rather awkward departure, as Ino and Chouji were dropped off at Shikamaru's room while Sakura, after quickly reporting the procedures she had performed along with filling out the incident report tailed along with Jiraiya, Tsunade and Kakashi. If Naruto was worried about awkward silences, he soon found out he didn't have to be.

Tsunade and Jiraiya were filling him in on all the exciting recent developments – such as new hot springs (to which Jiraiya received a prompt fist to the face) and more appropriately, new shinobi procedures that had been instituted. Tsunade had been busy reevaluating and reshaping the medic ninja program that the Sandaime had famously denied her out of practicality; channeling Naruto's essence and stubbornness, she decided to make it happen anyway.

Jiraiya for his part had been working on a new book series, though Naruto suspected he'd been doing more than just that. Regardless, his new... research kept him coming back to Konoha more often than before. Kakashi, on the other hand, resumed ANBU duties for clandestine missions.

Sakura alone was entirely silent.

"I like the new hairstyle, Sakura-chan." Naruto smiled.

She stopped in her tracks and stared into his eyes meaningfully.

Expecting her to say something, Naruto waited, but after about thirty seconds, she simply shook her head and continued walking. Shrugging, they continued on their way to the Hokage's office.

…

"Ah, the sweet smell of paperwork," Tsunade began as she opened the door to her incredibly messy office. But as soon as she closed the door, Naruto could feel the atmosphere change, and he knew it wasn't just because a silencing seal had been activated.

"Start talking." Tsunade said in a not-so-sweet demeanor.

"Tsunade's been worried senseless. For the past seven years, every day, all she's done is think of you." Jiraiya paused to take a look at Naruto's face. It had changed more than he expected. "She loved you like a son."

Naruto nearly snorted, but had the senses to silence his objection.

"Where did you go when you escaped from the hospital?"

"I wandered around, for about two years. I couldn't decide where I wanted to go. I roamed through Mist country, Sound country, Grass country. Just picking up odd missions, doing anything to stay alive. I met various shinobi, picked up some jutsus here and there. I even thought about visiting Inari and his family again."

"The Great Naruto Bridge." Kakashi filled in, for those who were unfamiliar.

"But it didn't seem to make much sense. So I moved on. Eventually, I settled down in Iwagakure."

Everyone was noticeably concerned at this statement. Naruto himself thought about lying, but there was no point. Tsunade was a fantastic medical ninja, and she could easily analyze a variety of samples – hair, clothing, dirt – all of which would confirm all his activities, from sleeping, the soils he walked on, even where he took a dump. No, he'd have to cut it close if he wanted to make his story sellable. He'd tweak small details.

"I was never indoctrinated as a ninja there. But they were more than pleased to have me. After all, I'm the one who killed the Yondaime – indirectly, at least." He added.

Silence greeted him.

"The village loves me. They worship the ground I walk on. But more importantly, they see me for me. Even still, I never became a ninja there. This whole system." He looked around, gesturing vaguely around him. "I fucking hate it. War, pain. Heroes on one side, enemies on the other. The cycle is endless. Anyways. I stayed there for about five years. During that time, they trained me. I completed assignments for them, and in exchange they provided me with housing, food, and training. The agreement was fairly clear: I was free to go and come as I pleased, to pick the assignments I wanted, and negotiate the terms of my stay freely."

"Why'd you go?" It was Sakura. "How could you just… leave?" Her fists were trembling.

"I told you. I hate Konoha. I hate the shinobi system we've devised. I despised the civilians, and they loathed me. It seemed stupid to stay."

"What about _Sasuke_?" She stood up.

Naruto, still sitting, looked up, nonchalantly. "Oh, is he still alive?"

"_You_… You aren't Naruto." She left, slamming the door behind her.

"We tried to brief Sakura on the probability of your death, you know." Kakashi gave Naruto a hard look. "She never gave up on you. Refused to accept your death."

"Guilt does funny things to people. Her precious Sasuke-kun tore a hole in my chest the size of a grapefruit. She's surprised that I don't care for him?" Naruto spat. "I see she hasn't shed her obsession yet."

Kakashi shook his head. "You mistake her. She asks about Sasuke because she knew how much he meant to you. She yearns for the Naruto that was unrelenting in his drive to be Hokage. The Naruto that she knows still exists."

"Hmph. Well, I hate to break it to you, but that boy's been dead for seven years."

Kakashi, strangely enough, smiled at this. "We've all been under the assumption you've been dead. Yet here you are, alive and well. You really think we're going to give up on you so easily?" Naruto had nothing to say to this, so he chose to remain quiet. "So why'd you come back?" Kakashi asked after a long silence.

"I grew weary of the same place. I actually completed another tour – came through Kiri, visited Suna, and thought I'd stop by, just to check things out. That was when I saw an Iwa nin I recognized chasing Shikamaru. I was curious, so I followed. Sakura can tell you the rest just as easily. It was pure caprice, really. Nothing but sheer luck."

"What do you know about Akatsuki? Jiraiya jumped in.

"Enough to know they're a threat."

Jiraiya's eyes widened. "You've been killing them off. It all makes sense. The constant travels, going around – you just said you visited Suna not too long ago. Orochimaru was there. And Kiri before that. I'm right, aren't I?"

Naruto shrugged.

After the small silence, Jiraiya continued. "They have all but three of the bijuus now. You, Killer B, and an Iwa nin called Roushi."

Naruto chuckled. "Your spy network is really pathetic in Iwa, isn't it?"

Jiraiya wasn't pleased. "Perhaps... Why?"

"Roushi-sensei was killed years ago... They gutted him like a fish. And for that, I will do the same to each one of them."

A larger silence took hold after that.

Despite the news that Akatsuki was only 2 bijuu away from their ultimate goal, Jiraiya was pleased. He was seeing bits and pieces of the old Naruto, still buried deep inside. He was sure the others were seeing it, too. No sooner had he thought this when Tsunade picked up on it.

"Come back home, Naruto." Tsunade began. "We miss you. We can take down the rest of those Akatsuki fuckers, and you can be safe."

Naruto looked around. Two Sannin and Kakashi. Tsunade may have already requested ANBU backup. As if on cue, four ANBU members arrived in the background, hiding in the trees. It may be cutting it close. He had yet to master elemental manipulation, and was still a little worn out from his fight with Konosuke. The Akatsuki kills took months of preparation, research, and investigation into their specific techniques. Naruto ensured that in each combat he had the upper hand.

Here the situation was reversed. The enemy knew a fair amount about it. He was outnumbered. And, if he tried to escape now, it would make assassinating Kakashi fairly difficult in the future. That is, unless he managed to just kill the man now and flee. Reorienting the objectives made the mission fairly easier.

"No thanks. I'm doing just fine by myself."

Tsunade pretended she didn't hear him. "Furthermore, we have a couple things to offer you. Like your inheritance."

Naruto's brows narrowed. "You know who my parents were?"

Jiraiya jumped in now. "And training. You don't have access to many of the techniques that you'd be naturally compatible with. Like elemental manipulation."

Naruto's eyes widened, and Jiraiya caught it.

"You're a wind user, aren't you?" He had Naruto's full attention. "Just like your father. Is that why you went to Suna? Get an increased understanding of elemental manipulation? They can't help you. They specialize in long-range tactics. That's not what you need. You're a close combat fighter."

Naruto stood silent, simply absorbing all the information that whizzed by him. They knew of his parents – knew them intimately, possibly. They knew his elemental affinity, and they claimed they could help him train. And they had his inheritance. Naruto was tempted to just ignore it. After all, it was just another part of his past that he claimed to disregard. Was it even worth taking it? But his curiosity piqued at that moment. Some of the questions he was searching for his entire life lay right in front of him. And in return, he just had to temporarily ally himself with Konoha.

It would be easy. Stay with them for a month or two. Reclaim his inheritance. Find out about his parents. Get stronger, and leave, after assassinating Kakashi, of course.

"Naruto?" Tsunade brought him back to reality.

"Two months. That's it."

…

The three were silent for sometime after Naruto left.

"Not a ninja... What a load of bullshit. He's special ops for Iwa, isn't he?" Tsunade shattered the tea cup.

Kakashi nodded. "They used to have a program called Tomb – a secretive, underground dirty work squad not unlike Ne here. That'd be my best guess."

"They'd get along with Danzou just fine, I'd bet." Jiraiya grumbled.

"What do you want to do with him?" Kakashi asked.

"Fuck what the little bastard says. He's here on a mission. And I'll bet anything he's here to assassinate someone." She saw the smirk in Jiraiya's look, but the man held back the unspoken statement. _Tsunade-hime, knowing your luck with betting, he's not here to kill anyone at all._ She preferred it that way. She truly, truly hoped she was wrong this time. But then again, knowing her luck... "We need to find out what that is. Under no circumstances are we to let on that we know he's lying. Lay low, act normal." He may almost be her long-lost son, but she'd be damned if she was going to let him kill a Konoha citizen.

Jiraiya nodded. "I'm going to Iwa for the next month; let me see what I can dig up on our orange-loving ninja."

Tsunade nodded. "His objective places him here for the next two months..." Tsunade thought about it for some time before coming to an evil conclusion. She grinned. "We'll get him to stay for sure."

…

"You okay?" Ino approached Sauka.

"I hate him. I hate him, Ino. Fuck that bastard." A single tear fell from Sakura's cheek. She refused to give her former teammate the satisfaction of knowing she had been crying. She refused to expend anymore energy on the asshole. No, she'd ignore him forever. Never again.

The blonde girl hugged her tightly. "No, you don't. But he _is_ a bastard. Come on. Let's go home." A sleepover. A nice, relaxing sleepover before they Jounin exams. That's exactly what they needed. They'd snuggle, they'd cry it out, and Sakura would never again be bothered the arrogant s.o.b.

Ino directed them away from Naruto. Sakura didn't need to see him again. They'd go straight home. As she approached her friend's house, Ino noticed the glaring problem in their plan: Naruto was standing there.

"What are you doing here?" Ino quietly spoke.

"The Hokage has assigned me to live with you." He spoke to Sakura, ignoring Ino's presence entirely.

Sakura seemed shell-shocked.

"What!? Why?"

Naruto ignored the platinum blonde. He had no business with her. "Sakura-chan," he walked towards her. "Are you alright?"

"Answer me, Naruto baka!" Ino raised a fist to him, but before the blow could land, a shadow clone was restraining her with one hand, and holding a kunai to her throat with another.

Naruto, for one, acted like nothing happened and ignored Ino's existance. He didn't even pause in his movements. As he approached her, a single hand lifted Sakura's chin up, wiping away her tear. He looked into her emerald eyes. "I'm sorry, Sakura-chan." She quivered, just for a moment, and Naruto internally smiled. '_There's my in._' His new plan? Get Sakura to sympathize with him and spill the beans on everything related to Kakashi. She and Kakashi had been doing two-man missions during the past couple years, and she had the closest assessment of his abilities of anyone in the village. Sakura held the key to the completion of his mission. It was too easy, really.

He'd just fake empathy for a couple weeks. Get close to her. Get the information he needed, and leave her broken. He'd made the decision in four seconds, only because three of those seconds required planning his housing situation. That's when the Hokage intervened.

She actually _mandated_ him to stay with Sakura. He couldn't be trusted on his own, she said. And Sakura's location was monitored by ANBU; not to mention it was close enough to the Hokage's Tower. That made his decision all the more easy.

He spend the fourth second on one word: "Sure." It was a simple decision that just took four seconds; three to think, one to accept. What could go wrong?

SLAP.

Sakura slapped him across the cheek, but not very hard. Certainly not with a chakra filled punch. "What are you doing here, Naruto?" She spoke quietly and quickly; she clearly still cared about him, only confirming Naruto's suspicions.

He ignored her question completely. He needed to weave an empathetic story while he had her attention. "I wanted to tell you, Sakura-chan. I wanted to tell you more than anyone. But, I couldn't. For me to participate in the Iwa training program, they kind of made me swear to secrecy. They put a seal on my tongue. Until I was out of their program, I couldn't say anything. To anyone. God, I wanted to tell you. You most of all."

Ino interrupted once more. "Why are you here, fucker? And let me go!" Naruto's shadow clone gripped her tighter, causing her to breathe difficultly. She didn't have enough air to talk, and he began a chakra tap. With the thumb of the shadow clone pressing into her forearm tightly, he paralyzed her chakra system with the Kyuubi's chakra. Ordinary non-Jinchuuriki found the Kyuubi's chakra poisonous, disabling their own chakra system until the foreign chakra was flushed out. It would be rather annoying if she used some troublesome jutsu.

He continued, as if she never spoke. "I missed you. So, so much. When I left, you were the only thing that kept me wishing I didn't leave. You have to understand it was tough for me. I never wanted to, but…" He hushed his tone more. "Akatsuki is an extremely dangerous group. They won't stop until they kill everyone close to me. I couldn't stay around. I had to get stronger. But more importantly, I had to get away from the ones I loved." The lie came surprisingly easily. It wasn't entirely false. He _did_ think about her. From time to time. But certainly not as often as he made it out to be.

"Why are you here, Naruto?" She asked again, without the slap.

"Baa-chan assigned me to be with you. She said she couldn't officially trust me to be on my own, and your house is close enough to the Hokage's Tower, and is surrounded with ANBU. As the Hokage's apprentice, she said you'd be more than willing. I'm sorry. I know this is tough for you."

She sighed. "Let's go inside."

Naruto left a baffled Ino go. She had never felt so weak, so helpless. Why couldn't she use her chakra? She felt sick, like she needed to vomit. Quietly, she entered Sakura's house.

"Ino-san, do you require an escort to your house?" Naruto asked politely.

Ino didn't understand. "I'm… staying." She was still breathless. For some reason her body was having difficulty breathing properly.

"Ah, I'm afraid there's been a misunderstanding. Tsunade-sama has entered me in the Jounin Exams, as Sakura's teammate. We need to spend today and tomorrow strategizing for the exams and working on our teamwork. This, as you can understand, is confidential." He gave an eerie smile.

Ino didn't even have the energy to respond. Nodding, she began to wobble back to her own house. A shadow clone appeared beside her, and they both vanished.

"I only helped her get back to her own house. She seemed rather tired." Naruto responded to Sakura's look of worry.

"You drained her chakra."

Naruto mentally shrugged. She was a medical ninja, after all. It couldn't be helped. "No. Merely injected some of my own."

Sakura was exhausted. This was a mentally draining day. She didn't know what to think of Naruto, and now she was teaming up with him? She'd sleep on it. Her brain couldn't process it all tonight. "Sleep on the couch. Good night."

…

Sakura stared at the back of Naruto's blonde, spiky head. He was nothing like the blonde she used to know. Their strategy session had been quite serious. Informative. Intelligent, even. He was currently cooking dinner. And perhaps most of all, he hadn't been honest with her yet. Not a single word that spewed out of his mouth yesterday had anything even remotely resembling the truth.

"Did you get your inheritance?"

Naruto turned around, smiling slightly. "No, not yet. Ero-Sennin says I will receive it in a month; he's off doing more research."

"You can trust me, you know." She approached him; his arms were still busy holding two pots. She grazed her thumb across one of his whiskers lightly, and he took a deep breath in.

"Sorry, Sakura-chan. That spot is kind of sensitive."

She touched another whisker. Same reaction. "It's all the whiskers, isn't it. I know."

"Know wh-what?" She kept stroking his whiskers on his face. He had the strongest urge to swat her hand away. That was a private spot… after all, it was the Kyuubi's signature.

"The Kyuubi. I know."

Whatever Naruto had been expecting, it certainly wasn't that. Naruto moved away from her, setting the pots on the table. "Who else knows? From… our group." The "our" came out slow and rusty.

"Most everyone in the Rookie 9. Tsunade thought it would be appropriate. We thought you were dead, you know. She wanted to honor you as a hero to Konoha. They – they even put you in the Academy textbooks." She laughed at the last part slightly. "You convinced the Fifth to return, saved many lives."

"If you know about the Kyuubi, then you know why I left Konoha." Naruto returned to cooking; he was almost done.

Sakura shook her head. "I know. I know what the villagers did to you. I understand. But the Naruto I knew was unbelievably determined. He certainly wouldn't have given up because of that. Especially not when people had finally begun to acknowledge him."

Naruto turned around, finally setting the plates on the table. "Don't pretend to understand, Sakura."

She continued, undeterred. "Neji knew first, of course. Knew it from the fight during the Chuunin Exams. When we told him we thought you to be dead, he cried. Said your eyes were better than his, and that you were the one to give him light. Gave one hell of a speech in your honor. And Lee-kun? You were the one to defeat Lee-kun's rival. You _beat_ Neji. He ran Kami knows how many laps around Konoha for you."

Naruto rolled his eyes. The classic you should have stayed speech he'd been expecting. He quietly finished setting up the table and began preparing his meal, placing food on Sakura's plate first.

"You inspired Hinata unlike any other. God, she loved you so much. Constantly nervous around you – couldn't even have to confidence to speak without stuttering. You should see her now. When we told her you died, she changed completely. All because of you. And Konahamaru. Imagine, losing a grandfather and a best friend back to back. He was a mess for weeks. He really loved you as a brother, Naruto."

Naruto finished placing the food on her plate and moved to his own.

"But even ignoring all of that. You _still_ had Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, Jiraiya-sama, Tsunade-sama. They care for you like a son. You have no idea how relieved they were – how _terrified_ they were that you had died. And me. You had me, Naruto."

Naruto was getting irritated. This speech was so goddamn long. "So _what_, Sakura? What do you want me to say? That I'm sorry? That I'll never leave your side?"

Sakura didn't seem bothered by the outburst. "Trust."

"What?"

"I want your trust. The thing about trust, is that it takes years to build, but it can break in an instant. The trust that empowered you when you were here. The trust that made you the best ninja I know. I want it back. And trust starts by reciprocation. So, you are going to start by telling me everything. Not the cock and bull story you concocted last night. I've come up with a neat little lie detector. If you're wondering, I drugged you last night. You're going to answer my questions truthfully."

Naruto mentally face-palmed himself. Tsunade's apprentice! Of course she wouldn't have left a trace. Still, it wasn't all over. Truth serums had their drawbacks. Most lie-detector mechanisms relied on sensing disturbances in perspiration levels, heartbeats, and other usual telltale signs. But to an experienced liar, these wouldn't even take place. He just had to figure out how her technique operated.

"What do you want to know?"

"Are you going to stay here permanently?"

"I haven't decided."

Sakura paused. "You're lying. Tell me the truth."

Naruto raised a brow. "I'm not lying."

"Yes, you are. Tell me the truth. I'm not going to ask nicely next time."

Damn. He couldn't figure out how the jutsu worked – he was certain he hadn't even blinked. He looked at her straight on. No sweaty palms. No twitches. He was an extremely proficient liar by now. "I intend on going back to Tsuchikage after finishing off Akatsuki." There, it was out.

She seemed to ponder his latest announcement. "Did you attack Shikamaru?"

"Define attack." Naruto _was_ nervous now. He wasn't really sure what was going on, how she could know any of this, or where she was going with this line of questioning.

"You know damn well. Did you do anything to him with malevolent intent?" '_Smart ass…_' That much about Naruto was still the same.

"I saved him from that Iwa nin!"

Again, a pause. "Yeah, you're telling the truth there. But you're not answering my question."

"No, I didn't harm him in any way."

"Lie."

This wasn't going well. This wasn't going well _at all_. Whatever game she was playing, he was ending. Now. "This line of questioning will only lead to unhappiness for everyone. There are some things about me you don't want to know. Let's get one thing straight here. I want to be able to trust you, Sakura. I really do. But there are some secrets, which I reserve to myself and myself alone. And if that means you can't trust me, then fuck it. I don't need your trust."

She paused. Now _that _was the truth. It felt refreshing to hear Naruto's blunt honesty again. Sakura abandoned her interrogation and instead chose to silently eat dinner. If the food was good, she didn't say anything.

Her silence irritated Naruto all the more. He had never before been so angry with her. Perhaps it that she saw through his bullshit story he fed her last night, maybe it was the direct line of questioning she posed, or more likely it was that she could tell exactly when he was lying, and he couldn't understand how. Whatever the reason, he was royally pissed. "A-And why the hell do you even care that I left? So you can't trust me as much, so what? You never gave two-shits about me!"

She dropped her chopsticks. "No." She said quietly.

"Always with Naruto-baka, let's look after our precious Sasuke-kun. Naruto stop trying to overshadow Sasuke-kun. Sauke-kun, Sasuke-kun, it's really a wonder you even know my name at all!"

"No, it wasn't like that Naruto." A little louder now.

"Oh that Uchiha prince – that poor tragedy. Last survivor of the clan. A-And now you know about the Kyuubi, it's time to pity _me_? What, you just move from sob story to sob story?"

"No! Naruto I never – "

"Am—am I just the latest fucking trend? The coolest fab to be with?" Naruto was so angry he was stuttering involuntarily. It was true that not all of his anger was directed at Sakura, but she was representing everything he despised about Konoha. The blatant hypocrisy of the civilians and their pathetic attitude when it came to anything unknown. And now here she was, pretending to understand... Pretending to care.

"NO!" She was crying now, tears falling on her nearly untouched plate of food. Suddenly, she stood up and left the table. She paused at the entrance to her own room. "You were always an idiot, Naruto. But you were _my_ idiot. Now you're just an asshole. Go fuck yourself."

Naruto was furious with himself. He kept replaying those words in his mind. How was he ever _her _idiot? How could he have lost his cool? It must have been years since he fucked up this bad. She was his only ticket to getting information on Kakashi. But the stranger part was that he wasn't even that bothered that assassinating Kakashi would be more difficult now. No, the real reason he was angry was… he made her cry. And _that's_ what didn't make any sense. She was nothing. A stupid shadow of his past that didn't matter. Why did that bother him so much?

…

"How are they doing?"

Kakashi shook his head. "Fighting, mostly. Naruto's changed unbelievably. But deep down, he's the same old Naruto, even if he doesn't want to admit it to himself. He wants to hold on to this new image of himself. Sakura's upset with him for that. It's gonna take a while before Naruto becomes comfortable here, if at all."

Tsunade nodded. "I see. Well, that's why they're on the same team for the Jounin Exams. Sometimes the best remedy is beating the crap out of someone."

"It's overkill, sending Naruto in there. If he's killed several Akatsuki members, there's no doubt he's probably ANBU level."

"Of course. But we need to know exactly where, and the sooner we know, the better. This will be an easy way to peg Naruto's abilities. Besides, I've seen the plans Shikamaru drew up. They're clever. The test will go on, even without Shikamaru."

"And Naruto's allegiance?"

Tsunade smirked. "Not my problem. After all, he's not a shinobi anymore is he? If he wants to maintain that cover, then he'll have to go along with my plans. Either that, or, we have an actual honest conversation."

"You're forcing his hand."

"I'm the damn Hokage. I'm protecting my village. It's up to him whether he wants to be within that umbrella of protection or not. If not, I'll kindly inform Iwa that their precious asset has... turned on them."

Kakashi winced. Tsunade was no pushover. He briefly wondered whether she'd follow through on such a threat.

…

"Konahamaru!" Sakura smiled, wiping the tears away.

"Is it true? Naruto-nii is back!?" Konahamaru was accompanied with many others – including most of the Rookie 9, Gai's team, and some senseis.

"It's true!" She smiled. Konahamaru was still adorable, despite entering his teenage years. She remembered the first time meeting him. Right before the Chuunin Exams when the kid called Sakura Naruto's girlfriend, and then proceeded to talk about her forehead. Since Naruto's departure the two bonded over their sorrows. "But I have to tell you something."

Naruto watched from the shadows of the building above, keeping his chakra level incredibly low. '_Great… This is the part where she tells everyone I'm an asshole. Troublesome._'

"What?" He asked.

"I'm not sure you'll be able to beat him now! He's become a fantastic ninja." She smiled, ruffling his hair.

"No way, he's going down!"

'_Why… Idiots holding onto a romantic past that never really existed…_' But Naruto was incredibly grateful. His tension released rapidly. He had to leave. He needed to think…

"Eh? Where's Naruto nii-san?" Konohamaru and Sakura stared at the empty room before them.

…

The village really was beautiful. He spent an hour roaming through the streets freely. He had never before been able to do so; during his childhood, he'd constantly be at risk of villagers attacking him or harassment from some Chuunins. Now? Only a select few shinobi knew he was back. Most of the civilians still assumed he was dead, and with seven years of growth separating him he doubted any would even recognize him. Sure, the news would spread like wildfire among the shinobi community, and eventually the civilians, too. But his skills were long past the point where Chuunins would bother him.

He pushed those thoughts aside, choosing to focus on a Genin describing to his shinobi family the Chuunin Exams and how tough they are. Across the street kids were playing. The thing unique to Konohagakure no Soto was… the life. The visible, ever-present feeling that the place was thriving.

Unlike most villages, which were actively hidden and camouflaged, the Leaf's military dominance allowed its hegemony and deterrence to be sufficient protection. Which meant that on the home turf, they could relax. They didn't really need to bother with concealment; civilians and shinobi could live in openness, together.

The other striking feature was the abundance of nature. Covered in forests and beautiful plant life, the village allowed larger wildlife. It was not uncommon to see deer or even some bears roaming about the forests. Not to mention the sounds of birds chirping in the morning, greeting everyone. Naruto stood, closing his eyes, and just embracing the smells of the forest. It had indeed been a very, very long time. None of them were in Iwa.

Iwagakure maintained survival-mode at all times. All buildings were hidden deep underground. Seeing sunlight was rather uncommon, even. As for wildlife? Other than the occasional reptile, it was highly unlikely. Konoha was its exact opposite in so many ways. He roamed the forest barefoot, enjoying thoroughly the feel of the soil. So soft and moist. The grass blades caressed his blistered feet, soaking them in a soft, dewy heaven.

For the past couple days he'd been so focused on his mission that he'd entirely neglected enjoying himself. Leaning back, he closed his eyes and took deep, slow breaths. God, the forest was beautiful. And quiet. Meditation was a wonderful thing, Naruto decided long ago. It helped him sort through the whirlpool that his mind was.

By now the Konoha forces would no doubt have reported this back to Iwa and there would be political scramblings going on. Naruto could imagine what those would entail, having been next to the Tsuchikage for many of them. Naruto knew he had a family. He had to find the drop site and return its contents to his family.

He owed him that much.

…

"Where did he go?"

"I don't know – his chakra tracer just… just vanished."

"What?" Tsunade gripped her teacup a bit more tightly.

The ANBU gulped, knowing full well the capabilities of the female kage.

"Where was he last before his signal was lost?"

The man hesitated, for just a moment. Every man was guilty of it once in a while. Couldn't he just cut the kid some slack? A shattering of a teacup brought him back to reality. Nope. The Uzumaki was on his own. "The red light district, Hokage-sama." He quickly responded.

Whatever answer she had been expecting, it certainly wasn't this. Tsunade scratched her head, genuinely confused. She had always prided herself in being able to read men, and Naruto _definitely_ didn't strike her as the type to… well, as the Jiraiya type. It just didn't make any sense. A kid with his good looks? Certainly capable of getting some in other ways. Just go to any bar. She was interrupted from her thoughts by a cough.

She turned, realizing the ANBU was still standing there. "Yes, well…" she began. "Let's give him a few hours then." It didn't sound very Hokage-like, and though she'd never admit it, she didn't really know what to do. The exams were tomorrow. So long as he showed up to Sakura's house tonight, he wasn't going to be in any major trouble, she supposed. Besides, how was she supposed to get mad at him for disabling a chakra tracer? Technically, she shouldn't have even placed it on him.

"Should I go then, Hokage-sama?"

She nodded. "Call Haruno Sakura on your way out please."

It wasn't a moment later when the cherry blossom poked her head in. Tsunade raised an eyebrow. No one responded that fast. Not even Jiraiya when she told him she was naked. "Were you waiting for me?"

Sakura had the decency to look sheepish.

"What's up with you?"

"Nothing. You called?"

"I have an odd request for you."

Sakura looked up, switching her focus from her feet.

"I need you to go to the red light district and find out what Naruto is up to."

Sakura seemed fairly shocked. "Naruto is… he's in the." She stopped. Then, turning to a whisper, "_red light district?_"

Tsuande nodded. "That was the last location his chakra tracker registered him."

Sakura shook her head. "All men are the same."

"It would certainly appear so. Anyways, what was it you came to see me about?"

Sakura paused. Was it the right time to bring it up? This was finally a point in her life when things were seemingly getting put together, back into the right place. Was it even worth it? Well, no use in stalling – she really should just go for it. As she opened her mouth to speak, Shizune burst in.

Sakura sighed. '_Dammit. Kami-sama what have I done?_'

"Sakura, I'm sorry, but I'll have to cut our discussion short."

And with that, she was booted out of the Hokage's office and into the red light district.

…

Naruto woke up to sunlight hitting his face. Frowning, he got up feeling like he had a massive hangover. Side effects of poisoning were so… troublesome. But this… this wasn't his apartment. Naruto tried to remember what happened last night to no avail. '_Did I black out? How?_' No, this certainly wasn't the poison… this was an actual hangover.

He must have gone out last night. Sitting up, he looked around to find a rather familiar room. This… this was Sakura's apartment. His face paled. Did he find her in the red light district? Did she see his apartment? More importantly, how could he have gotten drunk? He _never_ drank on missions – it was a rule of thumb. He tried lifting his hand but found a rather large bruise on the back of his right palm. A bruise left by a thumb tap.

Thumb taps were pressure points that forced the opponent to freeze; it required pressing down fairly hard, leaving a bruise. The clues were beginning to fit together. But who could have gotten close enough for him to allow them to do that? Looking at the desk, he found a condom… used. '_Well, it _was_ the red light district._'

The door opened and he found Sakura, dressed in an incredibly provocative outfit. The tight red dress caressed the curves of her body perfectly, and with every step her chest seemed to bulge even more. The back of it had a bunny's tail on her ass, in a soft pink that matched her hair. "Finally awake, I see." The harsh tone presented a huge disconnect from the voluptuous clothes and the slight blush on her cheek. "Now where's the key?"

Naruto regained his cool. "What key?"

"The key to this _ridiculous_ outfit, dumbass."

Naruto thought back. "_Oh_. That outfit." It was starting to come back to him. He had realized Konosuke would also have chosen the Red Light district to try and maintain a low profile. Naruto had made it out of his apartment last night and was watching from the top deck of a strip club, when _Sakura_ showed up in the club, and was mistaken for a dancer. They rushed her into the bunny outfit and forced her to dance. Naruto, chuckling to himself, must have placed the sticky glue seal on it.

It was an old relic from his prankster days – without the specific key, the clothes would stay on forever. Even better, any attempts to take it off would only cause further nudity, leading the dress to be more and more… revealing. Sakura, apparently, had learned her lesson after the first attempt. A large gash revealed most of her stomach, turning what used to be a dress into a two-piece. No doubt she had attempted to take it off.

But the key… no matter how he tried he couldn't remember it. "Tell you what. You fill me in on what happened last night, and I'll probably remember the key."

"You don't _remember_?"

"Someone must have drugged me. I don't drink on…" How was he supposed to explain he was on a mission right now? "I don't drink." He finished.

Sakura shook her head disbelievingly. "You were the most drunk I've ever seen someone last night. Demanded… interesting things."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What things?"

Sakura unwillingly blushed. "It doesn't matter! Naruto, the exams are in a couple of weeks. Can you just _please_ give me the key? Or are you going to make me fight in this?"

Naruto's curiosity as piqued more than ever. Red light district. Naruto drunk. Sakura in that dress. There weren't too many things that could have happened. The only question was how far?

…

The next day Naruto finally found Konosuke's drop site. The package had the standard Tomb seals around it. After all, the man was nothing if not a by-the-book straight arrow. Using a reverse summoning, he sent the packages back to his former best-friend's house with a note explaining everything that happened.

_'There's been a set up. Konosuke and I were sent after the same person, and I suspect someone within Iwa is making a power grab. My cover has been blown, so I've been pretending to be a fisherman, but I don't know how long it will last. Be carefull – if there is a coup happening, you aren't safe. I've sent back Konosuke's drop site packages; it's the right thing to do.'_

He stared at the note. Good enough. With a poof, everything was sent back to Iwa.

It took him a moment to get used to the birds chirping. It was sunrise, after all. With the familiar sounds guiding him through the forest, Naruto made his way back to Konoha. Opening the door, he found Sakura making breakfast in a matching pink apron. He couldn't help but chuckle. How many years he'd spent imagining a scene so similar to this? Sakura making breakfast for him. It still seemed surreal.

Sakura gave him a hard look, her emerald eyes piercing into him. "Four in the morning. Gone. No note." The unstated accusation hung in the air. _Were you thinking of leaving again?_

Naruto sighed. "I... I had to take care of my friend. Konosuke."

"The Iwa nin?"

Naruto nodded. "His family will never get his body back. They won't ever get to hold a funeral. So I had to find his... belongings, and send them back. I owe them that much."

She turned around and, thankfully, pointed the skillet away from Naruto. "I'm sorry about the other day."

Naruto blinked. Wasn't she supposed to be mad at him?

"I meant what I said. I want your trust, and it starts by reciprocation. So I'll start with myself." She placed the pan down and laid some eggs down onto his plate. "What do you want to know?"

Naruto snorted. "This game worked so _well_ last time," the sarcasm dripped out. She stared at him patiently, and he realized she was actually waiting for a question. "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

She smiled. "Trust. I'm not the one who's been a missing nin for the past seven years."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "What a stupid phrase. I wasn't _missing_ – I'm not misplaced, like I'm some lost pet. At least have the guts to call me what I am. I'm a deserter. I've been working for Iwa. But you knew that already. How?" He said, finally turning serious.

"Tsunade-sama told me you've been working for an undercover branch of Iwa called Tomb. She said I was meant to keep eyes on you."

Was she _stupid_? Why would she tell him that? Perhaps she was just naïve. No doubt Tsunade wasn't; this was supposed to be kept in the strictest confidence. And yet, here Sakura was acting like a child all over again. He was the _enemy_, didn't she see that? Either way, she had piqued his interest and raised the stakes. He wondered if he could get information regarding Kakashi out of her.

"It's true, isn't it." It wasn't really a question.

"Yes, I've been doing missions for Iwa."

"So... You're just here on a mission. If they hadn't sent you here to kill someone, we would have never even seen you, right?"

"No, you wouldn't have."

She quietly finished her breakfast. "Well, at least you're telling the truth this time."

"What, you've drugged these eggs, too? Seriously, Sakura? You can't just keep drugging me whenever you – "

"You idiot." She spat. "You think I don't know when you're lying? There was _never _any drug, just your being a moron."

He sat quite docilely and finished his breakfast after that. He wasn't sure if she was lying then or now. But one thing was certain: Sakura was no amateur. It was quite obvious now why Tsunade had sent Naruto to stay with her. Knowing her, she and Tsunade had probably figured out a way to neutralize any visual tells of lying. He observed her face with a piqued curiosity. He smirked. Very well – if she wanted to play, then he would play.

"Are you seeing someone?"

Her tea sprayed out inelegantly across the table. Flustered, she quickly grabbed a towel to clean up. "Idiot. Why does that matter?"


	4. Chapter 4: Branded

Ha! You all thought I only updated once a year, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU! :D

Couple important things to mention:

1) I keep forgetting to mention the inspiration behind this story! If you like this, you should all check you Set in Stone by SOC Puppet. It's an abandoned story, but it's a fantastic read nonetheless.

2) This chapter is kind of sad. I wanted to show a couple chapters of Naruto struggling to come to terms with his past – I mean come on, he's been gone for seven years. It's not going to be easy coming back. So I'm sorry for the angsty writing, but it will get happier – eventually! I wanted it to be sometime before we see the return of the old prankster ways.

It's also been a really tough write for me. I'm a pretty happy dude as far as things go, so writing a super depressed Naruto has been an interesting challenge, and I've had to resort to reading interviews about people and how they felt after significant traumas because it isn't anything to which I can relate.

3) I've decided to stick with the chapter length of roughly 16-18 pages. Most people seem to be happy with this, so that's the way it is. If you're in the minority that disagrees, well, I'm sorry? Regardless, this is right on the nose at 16.5 pages. (Half a page shorter than the previous, JFYI.)

4) The ages here. So canon Konahamaru/Hanabi/Moegi/etc are five years younger than Naruto, so they should all be 14. I've decided to make them 12 here – aka, they're just ready for graduation when Naruto returned. Fairly minor change, hope it's not too drastic for anyone.

5) I realize this chapter doesn't have too much actual fighting in it – don't worry. As you'll see in the end of the chapter, much of the next chapter (and the one after that) will have _plenty_ of actual fighting. :)

Enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3: Branded<strong>

As Danzou stepped into Tsunade's office, he made sure to wipe the condescension off his face and place a moderately respectful look in his good eye. As respectful as he ever got, anyways. He was getting old. The time to be Hokage had now escaped him, and he'd come to terms with that. If Hiruzen was the one destined for the light, and he was destined for the shadows, then so be it.

But that didn't mean he wasn't done serving the village.

Konoha was everything to him, and he'd be damned if the soft Tsunade – princess be damned – was going to ruin all that he'd worked for.

"Tsunade. You called."

"I'm sure you know by now that Naruto is back."

"Ah yes, the failed container. What are your plans for him?"

Tsunade's brow twitched. She was long used to his tactics, and a part of her was certain he called Naruto "the container" deliberately to anger her. "I intend on having him participate in the Jounin Exams, and once he passes, to put him on a fully functioning team."

He gave a long, arduous sigh. It was one of those "Look how much wiser I am than you" kind of moments that Danzou had perfected. "You're attempting to blackmail him, are you." It wasn't a question. "Glad to see you're finally beginning to see the futility of noble ideals, but I'm afraid it's too little too late. Perhaps you should consider stepping down?"

She rolled her eyes, but internally it was one of the first times she found herself agreeing with the man. She was turning sixty-two this year – the second oldest Hokage by a margin of over two decades – and in seven years she'd be older than her sensei when he passed. A decade of being Hokage had taught her how to deal with these sorts of people – to simply wait out the long drama, but that didn't mean she enjoyed it. Perhaps it was time to pass the torch to a younger candidate soon.

"Uzumaki Naruto, the traitor to Konoha, has been nominated to become Tsuchikage."

Tsunade stared at the bandaged war veteran. "The fuck!?"

The most un-Hokage-like exclamation was ignored. "I see Jiraiya's spy network is still incompetent as ever. Iwa has a tradition of nominating three shinobi for Hokage. Each are given a notoriously dangerous assassination mission."

"_And_? Who's he here to kill?"

"You know how this works, Tsunade. I don't lay all my cards on the table until I have secured a bargain in exchange."

She did know. "What do you want?" She was trying not to sound desperate, but things involving Naruto... got her wound up.

"Uchiha Sasuke has been a nunekin for long enough. It's time he be branded as such and dealt with." He turned to leave. "I'll give you two days to decide – but be careful; you don't want Naruto accidentally finding out anything." He left Tsunade to her thoughts.

…

_So she wasn't single. Did you expect anything different?_ No, of course he hadn't. Sakura was always a pretty girl – and now, she was well endowed, too. It was perfectly logical for her to be seeing someone. She wasn't a school girl anymore, and her childhood embers regarding Sasuke were long bound to fizzle out.

Shaking his head, he tried to focus on the work in front of him. He was finishing up the last of the scrolls Gaara had let him copy, but it was just as Jiraiya had said. Much of the theory was useful, and they had given many chakra manipulation exercises – all of which he had mastered in days thanks to kage bunshin – but beyond that, they were worthless. Suna was designed to use its windy, hot, dry terrain against invaders, which primarily lent itself to long-range attacks.

But Jiraiya knew of short-range wind users here in Konoha.

He could comb through the Jounins and find one. But was it worth it? It was only a matter of time before he'd be deemed a missing nin, and that meant he'd be ripe for the picking. And there was still the matter of Danzou. The man was not to be taken lightly – even the Sarsen Black Ops program in Iwa knew him well. He played dirty.

Sighing, he burnt the last scroll after committing it to memory.

The nagging issue of the power struggle back in Iwa was another problem. He couldn't do any investigating from thousands of kilometers away. Which meant that the single thing he could do was take down Akatsuki, but even that was unlikely given Tsunade's eye on him. And any more major activity would set Kakashi's paranoia off.

Which meant he was just a sitting duck until this mission was over.

He hadn't felt this restless since he was waiting for "Ero-Sennin" to teach him the Rasengan. Chuckling at the memory, he decided to do something he hadn't done in far too long. With a smile on his face, he set off to Ichiraku Ramen.

…

"Tadaima!" Seven year-old Akihiro entered the building with a grin on his face. "Okaa-san, Okaa-san, guess what we did in school today – just – eh?" The boy looked at the occupied seat in front of him. "Hey! You're in my seat!"

Naruto turned around to look at the little boy. _So this is Aki... __He looks just like him._Flashing a smile to Ayame, he chuckled. "He's kind of scrawny. Don't tell me you're just feeding him ramen?"

"Hey!" Aki shouted with all the strength a pre-schooler could muster. "Don't you dare insult ramen! It is the food of the Gods! And get off my chair!"

Naruto got down from his chair and squatted to get eye-level with the boy. "Hey, brat! I'll have you know this is _my_ chair."

"I've been sitting on this chair my whole life! And before that, my elder brother sat on this chair _his_ whole life! This is _my_ chair – family members only!" Aki looked at his mom furiously. Didn't she know that? Hadn't she been the one to tell him the story of his incredible older brother, the best shinobi in the world and future Hokage? Why was she letting this random person sit on the family chair?

Naruto tried to hide his grin. "Is that so? Well then, if you can eat more ramen than me, I'll give you this chair."

"It was _already_ mine!"

"Well, it's sure not yours now, brat!"

"Grr! Fine, I'll show you!"

Naruto watched as Aki ate the ramen with a religious appreciation, savoring the flavors.

"Aniki always said – you can't just _down_ the ramen. You have to show it respect. Enjoy the flavors."

"Eh?" Naruto feigned confusion. "You have to eat it slow?"

Aki cutely rolled his eyes. "It's not about _speed_, it's about _savoring_." He took another bowl. "Don't know the first thing about ramen, take my seat... Who does he think he is?" He grumbled as he began the second serving.

Naruto stopped after the second bowl, letting the Aki take the victory.

"I think you will see, shinobi-san, that the spot is mine now." Aki said nobly, but he couldn't hide the excitement.

Grinning, Naruto humbly stood up. "I have been defeated." Ruffling the child's hair (much to Aki's dismay), Naruto took out a fat wad of yen and placed it on the counter. When he saw Ayame about the protest, he whispered "Consider it seven years' of birthday presents."

But Aki caught it. Whose birthday was it? What was going on. After the man left, Aki moved to wash the dishes, but when he entered the backroom he saw twenty-five bowls on the sink. That was strange. His mother _always_ did the dishes immediately. How could she have let if pile up throughout the whole day? "Okaa-san, were you busy today? None of the dishes are done!"

"Gomen! I'll do them right now Aki-chan."

_No_, he thought examining the dishes. They were still warm from the cleaning. His eyes widened with realization. Did that shinobi really eat _twenty-five _bowls of ramen!? It was like the stories his dad used to tell him about his... brother. Aki looked up at the family picture of his father and older brother smiling. The blonde hair. The marks on the cheek. It couldn't be a coincidence.

"A-Ano, Okaa-san?"

Ayame wiped the tear from her eye. "Yes Aki-chan?"

"Was that Naruto Onii-san?"

…

Naruto sat down on the swing outside the Academy. He hadn't felt so alone since... since the last time he sat on this swing. He screamed, sending birds all over flying away. The corner of his eye caught a parent holding her daughter tighter and leading her away from him. He didn't care. He was too angry. His thoughts raced between why no one told him and how could this happen.

_The familiar ramen stand was gone; in its place was a large two-story house with a giant sign. Cautiously entering, he saw a woman with long black hair cooking. Naruto smiled. He had no doubts anymore._

"_Ayame-nee-chan!"_

_The woman turned around. There was a pregnant pause. Ayame couldn't believe it. "N-Naruto?" And before she knew it she they were in a hug, bawling, and she was saying his name over and over. It took several minutes before the two calmed down, but neither could stop smiling. They sat and talked for a long time, catching up on so many irrelavent details._

_Ayame wasn't someone to ask annoying questions like where he was or why he didn't contact. She unconditionally supported him, and she was unconditionally happy that he was back. That was the reason he loved her. He wondered if this was how all families were. He pushed the thought away. She _was_ his older sister for all intents and purposes, blood be damned._

"_Where's the old man?"_

_She smiled sadly. "Father passed away several years after he left." Seeing Naruto's face, she quickly added "No, don't be sad. He lived a wonderful life, and he had no regrets, even on his death bed. He was so happy." She pulled out her hand and showed Naruto a gold ring._

"_No way! Nee-chan's married!? Who's the luckiest man in the world?"_

_She giggled. "Iruka, of course. He was a wonderful husband."_

_Naruto's blood froze._

_Ayame faltered. After a pause, "I thought someone told you already. I'm sorry Naruto-kun."_

"_When?" His voice suddenly became raspy and ugly._

"_Three years ago. He was promoted to Jounin, so he began leading some more dangerous missions. It was his first S class mission... I remember arguing with him the night before, but he said he was proud to serve his village. Said it was what you would have done." Ayame's voice was breaking up. Naruto patted her back, trying to tell her it was okay – that she could stop. That he himself wasn't sure if he wanted to hear all of this. _Could_ hear all of this. But she continued. "Hokage-sama was very kind. We couldn't have the body, of course. Hunter nins and all that. But she let us know everything about the mission. About how vital Iruka's work was, and how many lives it had saved." She looked at him with tear-stained eyes. "He loved you very much."_

_Naruto's heart ached. It felt like Roushi-sensei all over again. This wasn't supposed to happen. He had sealed off his emotions. He didn't want to feel like this. He never wanted to feel like this. He didn't want to _feel_. "Who killed him?"_

"_We're not sure. The mission was on the border of Suna and Iwa in a place called – "_

"_The Demon Pass." Naruto finished. It was like his heart had fallen to his gut. Iwa did many missions there. His village did many missions there. The Sand and Stone were notoriously bad enemies; the pass was named Demon Pass because that single strip of land caused more casualties than all of the other deaths in Iwa combined. Tensions were so bad there that the mere sighting of Sand shinobi would cause an outbreak. Naruto himself had participated in many battles there, reluctantly. Gaara was his friend. Regardless of how Iwa felt about Suna._

_Before finding out that Gaara was Kazekage, Naruto himself had done numerous missions there. The number of sand shinobi he killed there... It was impossible to count. He remembered gleefully traveling there just to test out his new jutsus. A place marred by death._

_She nodded. "Some Iwa nin... It was a misunderstanding, evidently. Everyone was undercover, you know. Wearing different uniforms, stealth and all that. The Iwa thought he was a Sand shinobi. I'm not sad, though." Her gentle voice lifted him from his desctructive-spiral. "I am reminded of Iruka-kun everyday, and everyday I am more thankful for the time I had with him."_

_Naruto wanted to scream. That sounded the most painful of all – being _constantly_ reminded of the loss. And then Naruto realized what Ayame had really said. '_We _couldn't have the boy.' Her father was already dead. Who was we? Naruto followed Ayame's gaze to the picture on the wall. Iruka on the left, smiling. Ayame on the right, holding a small bundle. "Is that..."_

_She smiled widely. "Umino Akihiro. Aki-chan is Iruka's gift to me."_

_Only when she griped his hand tightly did Naruto realize he had been crying._

"_Come, I think it's high time you had some ramen, ne?"_

_Sniffling his tears away, he agreed and moved to his usual spot. It was hard to imagine that the seat on the left would never be occupied by Iruka again. Feeling around underneath the chair, he smiled when his fingers came across the familiar kanji of his name. They kept the same seats from the ramen stand. He chuckled, remembering his brash five year-old self marking this chair as his. He had caused quite the ruckus that day. Ayame's father ultimately ruffled his hair, picked him up and placed him there, declaring that the chair would indeed be his from that day on._

"_I hope you don't mind, Naruto-kun. But Iruka and I... we wanted you to be his older brother. Iruka always considered you as his son, and – "_

"_Of course I'm his older brother! Who else would I be?" Naruto grinned, stuffing ramen (quickly while still savoring the taste!) into his mouth._

Why would Iruka dress up as a Sand shinobi? He'd be better off in his Konoha uniform! The Iwa hated Konoha but not nearly to the same degree as Suna. He should have known better than that! And why didn't his village recognize Konoha ninja? Were they idiots!? Naruto ranted at all the idiotic inconsistencies that led to this tragedy, but it wasn't satisfying.

Ultimately, despite all the anger at everything around him, Naruto was most angry with himself. How could he have let this happen? How could he not have been there for them... For so long he never had any friends, and Ayame and her father were the first people that accepted him. And now, when they needed him the most, he wasn't there.

Even worse, he couldn't be angry with anyone else. It was a war between his two villages... He felt it should have been easy to take sides; he had told himself so many times, over and over, that he held no feelings for Iwa any longer. So why did it hurt so much? There was no possibility of revenge here. There were no winners. Just death and pain.

And why the hell wasn't she angry with him? The guilt coiled around his heart like a vicious viper. He _abandoned_ her, and yet there she was, blindly accepting him with open arms. She hadn't asked a single question about his past. Seeing the pure joy in her face made him all the more angry. She should have been upset with him. How could anyone be so accepting? He had been so accepting, once upon a time. He would have forgiven Sasuke despite everything that had happened. When did he lose himself? Naruto stared into the Academy entrance, almost as if staring hard enough would take him back to a time when he was carefree. When all he had to worry about was the next prank and how to avoid getting caught by Iruka.

If this was unconditional love...

Why did it hurt so much?

…

"We had training scheduled today." She said, sipping tea calmly.

Crap. He had forgotten.

"I waited for an hour."

He looked at her, unsure of what to say. The possibilities hung on the edge of his lips. 'I'm sorry.' 'I had other things on my mind.' 'How could you not tell me about Iruka?' He could have said any of these things, but his mind was still numb. All he managed was a grunt before collapsing onto the couch. Yes, the couch was safe. He wouldn't have to face her. He was still too upset at the whole ordeal.

He flinched when he felt soft fingers making circles around his temples. "Shh, this will ease the migraine." Naruto closed his eyes and concentrated on the soothing voice. She was saying something, but he couldn't find himself to focus on the meaning. He just lay there, letting her voice echo through his brain. A sweet smell wafted through Naruto's consciousness. Sakura's smell. He didn't bother to try and identify it. It had changed since he last saw her. It was more... _beautiful_, his thoughts betrayed him. He didn't care though. This feeling was bliss. He felt the worries fading away, and through it all, her fingers slowly weaving away the knots of his mind.

He laid there for what felt like hours, but through it all she never stopped. At last, when the headache was gone, Naruto slowly opened his eyes. It was more refreshing than sleep; he couldn't put his finger on what it was. He turned around to face emerald eyes that were closer than he'd been expecting. Close enough to see the unevenness of her lip gloss. Close enough to smell her sweet breath. He stayed there frozen for a moment before his system managed to respond. "I... You're... Thank you."

She didn't move away. "You're welcome. You seemed like you needed it."

He managed to nod before his breath fluttered involuntarily as she gently stroked his whisker.

Her breath was sweet.

KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.

"I..." he whispered.

She held onto it, though, tightly – as if she were afraid she'd never hear the end of that sentence.

_Want you to stay. Don't go. Just... stay._ He wanted to say. He tried to say. But his pride got in the way somehow, and on their way up the words transformed themselves into an ugly groan.

"Naruto?" The softest of whispers. _Say it. I need you to say it. _Emerald orbs focused themselves on Naruto.

Kami, her breath was intoxicatingly sweet. "I..." But his words failed him, and he missed his chance. "You should get that," he weakly finished. Embarrassed, he jumped out of the couch and nearly sprinted to the guest bedroom that she had set up and collapsed on the bed.

Rolling over and covering his face with the blanket, he half-heartedly tried to drown out the noise. In truth, he wanted to hear Sakura's voice. He wanted to know who this was. But another part of himself was angry at even admitting that to himself. What was he doing? He _knew_ he could never come back to the Leaf; he knew that seven years ago when he left. And yet, here he was almost flirting with Sakura. Why couldn't he just let her go...

Then he heard the unmistakable sounds of a kiss. Sakura's boyfriend, the realization hit. It wasn't right for him to be here. He didn't want to be here.

"I missed you, hime."

A giggle. "I missed you, too, Daisuke."

How easy it was for her to giggle at those words. How easy it was for her to smile and forget about Naruto... Those were the last words he could stand to hear before he vaulted himself out of her open window.

…

"My brother can kick your ass!"

"Aki," Konahamaru put on a deep, wise voice. Pointing to his forehead protector, he began, "I am an official ninja of Konoha. I won't be defeated that easily. Maybe when you finally join the Academy next year you'll understand."

"Yeah right. Official ninja. My nii-san can still kick your ass!"

"Even if he could kick _my_ ass, _my_ nii-san could kick _your_ nii-san's ass."

Aki gasped. "You take that back! My nii-san is the strongest shinobi in the world!"

Konahamaru chuckled. "Aki, my nii-san will be Hokage. You really think your nii-san can kick my nii-san's butt?"

Ayame sighed. Aki was so thrilled to have finally met his older brother after so many years he'd spent all day today just arguing with strangers about how great Naruto was. Naruto, for his part, had promised he'd visit _every_ day from then on, so it was only a matter of time before the argument hit its peak. _Ah, speak of the devil._

"Naruto nii-san!" The two boys screamed simultaneously.

"What!?" In unison.

"He's _my_ nii-san!" The chorus continued with a confused Naruto looking at the scene before him. Was it some sort of rehearsal?

"Nii-san, tell him you're_ my_ nii-san!"

Naruto rubbed his eyes, but he in fact was not seeing double. "Konahamaru, Aki. What's up my otoutos."

The two kids stared skeptically. Otouto_s_? As in, plural? They growled menacingly at each other.

"Hey! We're all family here, so make nice." Naruto sat down on Iruka's traditional seat with Konahamaru to his left and Aki to his right. "So, Konahamaru. It's been a long time. Eh?" Konahamaru was smiling widely, ear to ear. Aki, on the other hand, hadn't bothered getting on his chair at all. Instead, the boy was hugging Naruto's leg, refusing to let go.

Soon enough, tears began to flow. "N-Nii-san! I m-missed you so much! D-Dad would always..."

But exactly what it was Iruka would always, Naruto never found out. The sobs became to violent for any comprehensible speech. Smiling, Naruto picked up the seven year-old and gave him a deep hug, letting the boy cry himself out. Once the crying subsided slightly, Naruto wiped away the child's tears. "Otouto, I promise you. I'm not going away ever again. You will see me _every_ day. That's a promise of a lifetime."

Aki broke down once more, but a smile could be seen on his face. Turning around, he pulled the ramen bowl closer to him and began having some.

Ruffling Konahamaru's hair, he gave the boy a smile. "You too, Konahamaru. You're my otouto. That's not something I take lightly."

Konahamaru pulled away quickly and smoothed out his hair, sticking his tongue out at Naruto. "I'm about to graduate the Academy and become a full-fledged shinobi, nii-san. You don't have to _baby_ me anymore."

"Ah, gomen ne? Too much time has passed hehe." But Naruto couldn't help but notice Konahamaru's attitude was significantly improved after that reassurance as well. He couldn't eat ramen – not with his gut lashing out at him the way it was. This would be the second time he'd break a promise of a lifetime. That put his soul twice in debt. But these were just kids. They wouldn't understand. _Couldn't_ understand, Naruto reminded himself. He was doing the right thing. He _was_... He had to be.

…

The evening had shaped out quite nicely. Naruto had spent several hours with his two little brothers and his older sister in Ichiraku Ramen, and they had caught up a good deal. He decided it still wasn't worth the hassle to let them know about becoming Tsuchikage or anything like that, but he grudgingly told them about working with Iwa ninjas and seeing Gaara occasionally.

He smiled. Time really had flown by. To think Konahamaru had just passed the Academy exams. It seemed just yesterday Naruto was beating the crap out of Mizuki. He'd be placed on a Jounin team soon enough. And next year Aki would start attending the Academy. The seeds of the next generation were already sprouting. The village was strong.

_The village is strong_, Naruto repeated in his mind to hear the sound of it. It was true. It had taken him years to understand, but it was undeniably true. The average civilian in Konoha was weak. The average shinobi in Konoha may also have been weak relative to heavily militarized zones like Iwagakure, but there was no doubt that _Konoha_ was strong. It had an incredible feeling to it that he simply couldn't explain. May be it was the 'Will of Fire' crap that the old Sandaime kept spouting. Naruto didn't know.

"So, this is where you've been going off to." Came the unmistakably sweet voice with a not-so-sweet demeanor.

_Crap_. He'd been so lost in his thoughts that he'd forgotten to henge as a regular civilian. "Sakura-chan."

"Well, I can't say I'm not relieved. When I realized your ventures into the Red Light district were a regular occurrence, I had assumed the worst. This is your safe house, isn't it." It wasn't a question.

Well. So much for that.

"Come." She quietly took his arm and led him to the front of the steps. "Let's talk inside."

"Hold onto me tightly. If you're far apart, the seals won't recognize you." She hugged him tightly, and her familiar scent surrounded him. With a quiet push, he forced his chakras through the seals, and in an instant they were teleported inside. He realized she'd closed her eyes. "We're here." As she let go, a part of him wished he hadn't told her.

She quietly looked around. "No decorations."

"It's a safe house. I wasn't meant to be here long. Why are we here?"

"You said it yourself. It's a safe house. We can talk without being eavesdropped by Tsunade-sama and Kakashi-sensei."

Naruto sat on the sofa while Sakura pulled up a chair facing him. Leaning over, she held his right arm with one hand and measured his pulse with another. The constant contact was... bothersome. It was bothersome that he liked it, and it was bothersome that it kept reminding him of the old days. Before everything changed.

"What do you want..."

"To talk."

"So you said."

"Naruto. I'm worried about you. You're..." she hesitated. "You're showing all the signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder."

Fantastic. She was doctoring him. What a day this was shaping out to be. "I'm fine. I'm a _shinobi_. This is life for us. There is no post. There's just stress and trauma, and then eventually death."

She cocked her head, still measuring his pulse. "Hmm, yup. Definitely type 2 PTSD."

He sighed. "Fine, I'll bite. What's type 2."

"Avoidance. Numbness. Hesitation to do things you enjoy because it will bring back painful memories. Classic symptoms of depression."

"I'm not doing _any_ of those things."

"Really? You haven't been avoiding all of us? You haven't been burying your feelings down and lying through your teeth since you got here? You've said maybe _two_ true things since you got here, and both of those I had to force out of you. Depression don't even get me started."

"I'm on a _mission_. I can't fraternize with your old pals."

"_Our_ old pals."

"There is no _us_. There's just me, and there's you and Daisuke-_kun_." He mocked viciously.

"You don't like him."

"I don't _don't_ like him. I don't care about him. He's a fly in my life – I could care less whether he lived or his heart stopped beating this instant." _Yes, you're damn right I don't like him._

She was just reading his pulse, but it felt like she was reading his heart. "Was I supposed to wait for you? I didn't know where you were, or if you were even..." She didn't finish her statement. _I'm still waiting for you._

"No, of course not. It doesn't _bother_ me. And I'm glad to see you've moved on. I have no right to demand that from you. I have no right to be upset." _I have no right, but I'm still angry._

"You don't have to have a right. You feel what you feel. No justifications, Naruto. If there's one thing I learned from the colossal disaster that was Sasuke-kun, it's that you should never have to justify what you feel."

He rolled his eyes. "Sure, Sakura-hime."

"Hey, look at me." She brought his face to hers. "I'm Sakura-chan. I'll always be Sakura-chan."

He didn't know what to say to that, but with the blood rushing to his face, he couldn't stand to look at her anymore. Not that it helped any. Sitting next to her, bathing in her scent. Her incredibly soft hands holding his. _There had to be a jutsu for that. No kunoichi's hands should be that soft. Yeah, like Baa-chan's no-wrinkle jutsu... Something like that._ His pulse was skyrocketing. She was a medic ninja. There was no escaping it. He took his arm out of her grip. "You've made your point. After all these years, being next to you still makes my heart skip a beat. Congratulations, you've established me as your default back-up once more. Now can you just leave me be?"

"Naruto, if you think I've done all this to soothe my ego, I hate to break it to you, but your opinion isn't that valuable to me. I've long passed the state where I place my self-worth in someone else's eyes."

"Then why won't you just leave me the fuck alone!?"

"For the same reason you don't let yourself be. The same reason you keep pushing yourself down under all those layers when I _know_ you want out. You're hurting. And the last time, I couldn't be there for you."

"I don't need your help in dealing with this. I've been doing this for nineteen years. I'll be just fine without you."

"Are you happy with _just_ fine? Haven't you ever wanted something more? Isn't that why you wanted to become Hokage?"

"I've long since learned that I'm not entitled to more than just fine. I've learned to accept it."

"It comes to those who ask."

"You don't think I've _asked_?" It took her sudden wince to realize he was screaming. "I've begged and pleaded and cried for it. I've demanded it unrelentingly, but none of that changes anything. And now you come here and pretend everything will be okay if I just _ask_?"

"No. No, I don't know if everything will be okay. But ask me anyway, and I promise I will be with you every step of the way, helping you. You don't have to do this by yourself anymore. All of us, _all_ of your friends are with you."

He was suddenly exhausted. He didn't have the energy to argue with her about things she didn't even understand. Was he supposed to give a lengthy flashback of the seven years he was gone, explaining about Roushi-sensei and Emiko and everything that happened? Of course not, what a ridiculous notion. Still, in one and a half months he'd be gone, and he'd never have to deal with this again. "I've come to accept that this is what I've been given, and I'm making the best of it. I think it's time you do the same, Sakura-chan."

"Wait," she placed an arm on his shoulder and turned him around to face her. "Come have dinner with us. Everyone's dying to meet you. Tonight, dinner. Haven't you always wanted to take me out there? Bet you never thought I'd be asking _you_ there." She joked.

He smiled despite himself. "Why not, fine." Her giggles sent butterflies into his stomach.

"See, I always figured that's what _I'd_ end up saying in the end."

"In the end?" His eyes shot up, but she was already gone.

No matter how he tried to shove it away, the annoying smile she had plastered on his face held its ground the rest of the evening.

_In what ending?_

…

It was an odd scene, seeing almost everyone he associated with in Konoha together. Sakura said he had "bound them together – made them a tight knit family," or something stupidly annoying like that. Ichiraku had evidently thrived after Naruto's "death." The entire rookie 9, Maito Gai's team, and all the respective Jounin senseis were all there constantly. Konahamaru forced his team and Ebisu to join the madness as well, so together they were the loudest, most irritating group of shinobi in Konoha.

His stomach lurched. This was the reason he promised himself that he'd never come back to Konoha. What was the point? Ironically, his supposed death had brought them all together, and now there was no place for him in their group. Too much time had passed. All of them only remembered the thirteen year-old. As they exchanged stories of the old times, Naruto was confronted with a familiar scene. Someone would mention some funny prank Naruto had pulled in the old days, and they would all laugh. Kiba would boast that he had actually done Naruto one better, and Ino would smack his head yelling some variant of "Baka!", to which everyone would laugh. Kakashi would be happily reading a book or engaging Gai in some ridiculous game to prove superiority to the entertainment of all.

For five paralyzingly long minutes, he observed the commotion. It was a surreal experience. He himself wasn't there, of course, but his ghost was. The word "Naruto" was spoken more times than he could count, and worst of all, they were happy – the real kind, not the kind most shinobi seek after a dangerous mission in a haze of PTSD-induced cravings. They really, truly were a family. Sakura hadn't been lying. She just didn't realize he didn't belong anymore.

He didn't belong anywhere.

Only his ghost did.

He couldn't do this. Not this. Not now.

_Maybe next time..._

…

Tsunade stared at the note in front of her with disbelief. Jiraiya had corroborated Danzou's story and much, much more. All of Iwa was in a furious heat as the contest for a new kage was underway. Of course, the missions themselves would be kept silent until after the kage was selected, but updates would be posted as they occurred. Apparently, the shinobi Naruto had killed was another contestant for Kage. Konosuke, his name was. But who Naruto was meant to kill Jiraiya couldn't say.

She stared at the official seal Danzou had left on her desk. All the paperwork to declare Sasuke a nunekin was already completed. All that was left was for her to sign her official seal at the bottom. Obviously, Danzou had it prepared well ahead of time. Who knew how long he'd been sitting on this, biding his time...

"_Alright Danzou. By the end of the week Uchiha Sasuke will be named a missing nin. Who is Naruto's target?" Danzou's eye wrinkled with pleasure. Tsunade suspected it was the closest the man got to smiling._

"_You won't believe me when I say – so do us both a favor, and rather than getting angry with me as you kids often do, contact Jiraiya. No doubt you've sent him to Iwa. If he's any use at all, he'll be able to corroborate my story."_

"_Fine. Now who is it?"_

"_You."_

"_Wh-what?"_

"_Perhaps now you see why I've been working tirelessly. A village without a kage is no village at all. It's time you put aside your petty history with the boy and do what must be done for all of Konoha."_

_Was the old fart enjoying her misery and shock? Probably. She saw him smirk widely as he hobbled out of the room, leaving Tsunade to her gut-wrenching nausea._

Tsunade had been staring at the not for what seemed like hours. To think _Danzou_ of all people had been trying to save her life. From _Naruto_!? It was unreal. He was the third. He was the one meant to prove her faith!

She wouldn't have a choice but to cooperate with Danzou this time. "Call him in, I know he's waiting outside."

Sure enough, Tsunade heard the sounds of footsteps entering immediately. But it wasn't whom she expected. "N-Naruto?" His eyes were filled with tears.

"Show me Iruka-sensei's final file."

Tsunade paused. "Don't go down this route. I've been here, and looking at the file doesn't help. Naruto, it wasn't your fault. There's nothing you could have done."

Blood dripped out of Naruto's palms as his fingernails dug into the skin. "Iruka sensei considered me a son. I am Aki's older brother. I have a right to see that file. I once considered you my family, and," pointing to his necklace, "part of me still does. So I'll ask you nicely one more time. Show me Iruka-sensei's file. _Please_."

"Naruto..." It was just barely above a whisper. "It's _because_ you're family that I can't let you see. If I can't even protect my grandson, then what kind of Hokage am I?"

There was a short scuffle. Naruto zoomed at her, knocking both of them out of the building. With a lightning flash seal, Naruto set up a barrier preventing any ANBU from getting closer.

Tsunade looked up to find a Kage Bunshin holding her in place. She didn't have time for this. She went at him with a chakra-packed punch, but he caught her punch with some strange sealing paper and the chakra she'd stored in her fist instantly disappeared. She had a sinking feeling in her heart. By now the real Naruto would have gotten the information. It was over.

Soon enough, the barrier was removed. Tsunade noticed he was so angry he couldn't keep his fists straight.

"You put him in the ANBU?" It was barely a whisper.

She sighed. "Yes. Danzou had received intel that a Iwa was planning on mobilizing against Suna. Gaara requested several ANBU officers for a long-term three month mission to be undercover Suna shinobi."

"_You..._ You... You..." He was too angry to think or speak clearly. "You _stupid _Hokage!"

Tsunade ducked as she felt a military dog tag whiz by her. She saw the size of the crater it made. _Wind chakra enhanced. He's mastering it already._ She turned around to try and comfort Naruto but he keeled over and vomited all over feet. The poor boy tried to get up, but ended up falling face first into his own vomit. Eventually, he managed to get up on two feet and stagger away. A yellow flash was seen fleeing the scene.

_He just needs some time._ She repeated it to herself like a mantra, praying that it would come true if she just spoke it enough. _Umino Iruka._ She remembered the case well.

It was a time soon after the recently minted Jounin was married, and he came to her asking for more money. Given everything that had happened, she wasn't in a position to increase the pay for B and A rank missions. He had requested an S rank mission then. She obliged, offering him a trial run at being ANBU. Should he pass the mission, she'd offer him a more permanent position.

"_The Kazekage is afraid that Iwa is beginning to mobilize once more. They've been hitting harder than ever at the Devil's Pass – it's an extremely dangerous piece of land. Extremely volatile and it's on the border between the two countries. This no-man's land is not to be taken lightly. There are high ranking missing ninjas that live here, a place that no kami-fearing ninja would willingly go._

"_The mission itself is quite simple. The kazekage and I need you to impersonate a Suna shinobi and kill a certain Iwa ninja. We've come to an agreement that it's best Iwagakura doesn't turn its attention towards Konoha. Truth is though, Danzou's intelligence has revealed to us that this is a former ANBU Root ninja gone rogue to Iwa. He's giving away village secrets._

"_You're to kill him while impersonating an Suna ninja did this. Of course, we want you to get the body. Our hunter ninjas don't dare enter this area. Seal his body away and bring it back to Konoha for proper jutsu extraction."_

"_How will I find him?"_

_She looked at Iruka's young face. Part of her didn't believe he was ready. He needed more experience. But the boy wouldn't take no for an answer. She chuckled. Perhaps she was getting sentimental. Look at her, well into her fifties, worrying about a Jounin. Naruto was right. She really was an old grandma. He'd be fine. "He goes by the code-name 'Kitsune.' Danzou has assured us he resides in this area. Be careful. This is an S-rank missing ninja."_

_He flashed her a smile. "I'll bring him back, dattebayo!"_

_She shook her head. It was something she and Iruka had developed after Naruto's death – something small to keep Naruto's ghost alive in both of their lives._

She sighed. Getting up, she moved over to the boulder that had Naruto's dog tag. Given how deeply it was embedded, she wouldn't be able to yank it out without breaking the chain. It was Asuma's trick, she realized. Smiling at how far Naruto had come, she smashed the boulder and picked up the smooth steel from the rubble. The engraving was well done. Even the kanji was written perfectly.

Her blood froze. It couldn't be.

_Kitsune._

She stood there, paralyzed, for minutes. Nothing made any sense anymore, but her brain had latched onto a single, indisputable, undeniable fact: this entire thing was Danzou Shimura's fault. But she was quickly knocked back into reality as the volume of malevolent killing intent spiked. Of course Naruto was nearby. There was no way he could travel far in such a state of mind.

She needed to get Yamato.

She winced as the next flare of Ki flowed over Konoha.

_Fast_.

…

Sakura's eyes wandered from Tsunade to Kakashi to Shizune and back, in a circle, over and over again without gaining any sort of clarity. It was amazing how adults could speak the same language, right in front of you, yet seemingly speak in a code. She didn't understand a thing that was going on.

"How many?" Tsunade asked.

"Yamato said nine." It was Kakashi, Sakura's ears told her, and her eyes wandered over, trying to keep up with the mysterious conversation.

"H-How? Shikifuujin..." Shizune this time.

"Oink!" She mindlessly looked at TonTon before furiously changing her glare to Tsunade out of embarrassment. How could TonTon have contributed anything? She should have guessed that when the adults had agreed all too easily to her listening in that they would do something sneaky like this. _Like they were almost _ninjas_ or something_, Inner Sakura cheekily replied.

Even worse, it seemed like Tsuande was purposefully trying to spite her. "You're right, TonTon. I didn't believe it either."

"Sensei stopped it." Kakashi finally said. "That's what he said."

"You're joking."

Between wondering who Kakashi-sensei's _sensei_ was, and what exactly it was that he (_or she, shannaro!_) stopped, Sakura decided that she couldn't keep up with the spiraling conversation and decided to just stare at the ground. Only one thing was for certain: all of this involved Naruto somehow.

"Something must have happened to set this off. The last two times... there was a very specific cause." Kakashi said lightly.

Yup, they were definitely talking about Naruto now.

"There was." The Hokage said. "You should understand, Kakashi. What happened with Rin." She said simply.

For once, Sakura was glad she wasn't the only one who was out of the loop. Shizune was obviously lost as well, but somehow Sakura felt that the older apprentice handled it more gracefully than herself.

"_How_? _Who_?"

"He's Kitsune."

Sakura privately thought that if her cyclops sensei's jaw dropped any lower, it would pull his mask off.

When she finally decided she couldn't take the resounding silence anymore, the door opened and an ANBU delivered a note to Tsunade, who then immediately stood up. "Come, it's time for us to visit Naruto in the hospital. He's awake."

…

In a faraway cave, several shinobi immediately stopped their meeting as an abnormally pale man emerged from the earth below. "There's no mistaking it. The chakra you sensed... It's the Kyuubi."

"It seems that the 9-tails Jinchuuriki is finally back from his seven-year slumber." A deep voice hissed.

"Our numbers may have dwindled, but we still have strength." A split personality commented.

"Who do you want to capture it?"

"Kakuzu, Tobi. Get the 8-tails. I will go myself to get Uzumaki Naruto. It's time for Konoha to finally pay for its sins."


End file.
